Club Penguin: EPF: NOTIO: Part 3: The End of the Killer
by Rico1206
Summary: It's the conclusion to the amazing Killer trilogy. Rico realizes he's wasted all these months waiting and hiding...he knows it's time to change that. He is a flying solo, no agents from his squad around, and more penguins are perishing thanks to the Killer. Will the Killer ever stop? Who is the Killer? Get ready for the final showdown...
1. Run

Club Penguin: EPF: NOTIO: Part 3:

THE END OF THE KILLER

Chapter 1:

_In part two, the Rise of the Killer, the Killer was able to capture Barista and kill Pizza Chef. He caused the explosion of the Command Room and continued to threaten Rico. While it wasn't said in the story that he killed anymore innocent penguins, he did. Rico came face to face with the Killer after trying to intercept one of his goons with Jet Pack Guy. After an evening with the Killer, Rico learned all he needed, such as what the Killer looks like, why this was happening (he still doesn't really know exactly why the Killer wants to kill him) and he was able to escape the Killer's base. He looked for Jet Pack Guy and learned the Killer had taken him. He turned to his friend, expert thief himself, Henry, who was going to spy and get information on the Killer. The Killer had told him that he had killed Henry, and then Rico tried to convince himself that he wasn't dead. Henry. Doesn't. Die. The story ended with the Killer firing his gun at Rico. And now, the exciting conclusion…and the ultimate showdown…_

Rico had his eyes closed. He couldn't bear what was going to happen. Nothing did. He was confused. Should he open his eyes? He did. It was a good thing, too, because he saw the Killer, reloading his gun. Which meant he had time to run. But before he dead, he looked around. Was the Killer that bad at aiming? He looked down to see JET PACK GUY ON THE GROUND WITH BLOOD COMING OUT OF HIM.

"Bosssss…" Jet Pack Guy barely had any breath.

Rico's eyes widened under his 3-D glasses. "Jet Pack…"

"Bossssss….runnnnn…" JPG interrupted.

"I – I…"

"Runnn…nowww…don't…evvvveeerrrr…I mean…EVVVERRRR…look…" JPG gasped for breath. "Donnnn'tttt…evvverrrr…look…bbbbbbaacccckkk…."

"Run where…" Rico was running out of time. The Killer was almost done loading.

"Wherevvveerrrr.." JPG said. "Juussstttt….donnnn't….loooook….baccccckkkkk…" JPG was done talking. He was practically dead. However, he fainted. Rico looked behind him. The edge of the mountain. But, as I haven't mentioned before, there was a forest between him and the edge. He looked at the Killer, who was done refilling and about to aim. He started running. He was running from death. But what was he going to do when he reached the end of the mountain? Jump? That'd kill him, too!

"GET THE HELL BACK HERE, YOU…" the Killer was running towards him. Of course, they were thirty feet apart and counting. Rico was younger so he could run faster. Rico wanted to look back and see how close he was, but it was worthless. He reached the forest.

"WHO THE HELL PUTS A FOREST ON A MOUNTAIN?!" Rico asked, trying to think of what to do next. Climb a tree? Run through? He kept running. He heard the Killer getting close. One could get lost in this forest. That was perfect. He was able to use a technique Gary had taught him. Running ZIG-ZAG through the forest. It'd lose the Killer and buy him time to think of what next. The forest was long and thick, and while that sounded horribly wrong, and may be taken the wrong way, it's true. He ran zig-zagidly and attempted to lose the Killer. Of course, that was a tactic the Killer had learned as well.

"Trying to lose me, eh?!" the Killer laughed through the forest. "You can't lose me." He ran after him.

Rico kept running. He was afraid he wouldn't make it. He was out of the forest and the mountain's edge was just a few feet away. He had to keep running. The Killer started firing shots at him to scare him. Of course, he purposely didn't aim them at him. Rico stopped short when he reached the edge. There was nothing at the bottom to catch his fall. He had no grapple gadgets to slide down.

"WELL RICO." The Killer yelled. "WHAT'S IT GOING TO BE? ME SHOOT YOU? OR YOU JUMP TO SUICIDE?"

Rico had a choice. Stand there and get shot by the Killer or jump to his death? He was going to die either way… but how? He never thought he'd have to choose his own death. But he had to. It was time for it. Without thinking, Rico did the one thing that amazed everyone on the island and even shocked me – he jumped off the 1000 ft. mountain.

_So the beginning and the end of this chapter surprised you? Good. I was aiming for that. I hope you all had a good Christmas and holiday season! My birthday is coming up on the 28__th__, so wish me happy birthday in the reviews of the chapter I post that day, if you'd like. :3 _

_Chapter 2 will be posted soon!_


	2. Facing Facts

Club Penguin: EPF: NOTIO: Part 3

The End of the Killer

Chapter 2

_In the previous chapter, which I apologize for being short, Rico had realized that JET PACK GUY had actually JUMPED IN FRONT OF THE BULLET that was coming at Rico. He told Rico to run and not stop. Rico had run through the forest and after was faced with a big decision – will he meet him doom with the Killer or by jumping off the mountain – the tallest on the island? The chapter ended with Rico jumping off the mountain._

It could be seen everywhere. The mountain was that tall. A mysterious figure, the size of a leaf if you were looking out your igloo window, had jumped off of the Tallest Mountain, which was 1000 ft. high. Everyone was screaming, some were shocked, and a few fainted. Nobody knew what the purpose was, in fact, most thought it was suicide. But it was not that. Not that at all…it was agent Rico, leader of squad number one, the best in the EPF, jumping to what he thought may be his death.

He was silent as he fell. He knew there was no point of yelling. He didn't know if what he did was the right choice, or the wrong choice. Which ever it was, he didn't care. He was hoping that somehow he would die. All of this would be gone. He'd been with Gary, Dot, Rookie, hell, he'd be with everybody he lost…

But he didn't die. He landed on his stomach. There was a slight CRACK! that came from his body. He felt a slight pain in the arm of his flipper, which is where he assumed it came from. But he felt fine other than that. One thing he didn't understand right then and there was – how the hell did he survive? Nobody that jumped off that mountain survived. In fact, 252 penguins jumped off of it. All died. He was now the only one that didn't.

But he didn't think about it anymore. He got up and kept running. He was waddling weird thanks to his leg being possibly broken, but he didn't care. He didn't know what he was going to do when he ran out of breath. The Killer could be anywhere, waiting to kill him, waiting to strike, or just watching to think of the right moment. What was he to do?

He reached the Ski Village when he stopped for a breath. Penguins were staring at him like he was a white penguin with a black muzzle-thing (where the white is on normal penguins). They were murmurs, gasps and whispers around the Ski Village.

"Sir, are…are…are you oka…okay?" asked a penguin.

"What – what the hell is wrong…?" Rico had no time to stop and talk. He saw a penguin with a mirror. It was a 'prep', which was obvious. He grabbed it from her quickly.

"HEY GIMME THAT –"

"I…for…just a second…" He looked into it. There was blood dripping from his body. Everywhere. He may have just damaged an arm, but there was blood on every spot. He gave it back to her.

"Thanks…" He said as he started running again.

"SIR I CAN GET YOU TO THE HOSPITAL IF YOU…" That is all Rico heard as he ran to the Dock. Everywhere he ran, penguins were staring at him wondering what was wrong. A few even suspected he was the penguin who jumped off the mountain.

"That's – that's him…" said one penguin.

"No, nobody would survive that…" said another.

"Give me my pizza back," said one red penguin.

"In your dreams," said another.

Rico kept running. He didn't have any gadgets – no spy gadget, no grapple gadget, no cell phone, and no map, no anything. He had nothing to use, and had no idea where to go.

"Where…" Rico was saying quickly. He saw the igloo area. He wandering up his street, and saw his igloo. It was the only thing he could do. He wasn't the safest there, but it was worth a shot.

He arrived at his door and tried to get in. Locked, as usual. He didn't have his keys with him.

He threw himself at the door and it opened. He closed it behind him the best he could. It was broken, but outdoor penguins couldn't suspect a thing. He knew there was something he had to do.

For some reason, he had lost some of his memory. Why? He didn't know. Was it the fall? He couldn't tell and didn't care. He started feeling the walls of his igloo for a weak spot. He was trying to find the secret area in his igloo that only a few knew about. When he was shot and went missing about 8 months earlier, his squad had found out about it thanks to another squad. He couldn't remember where it was – it was for EPF stuff only and he hadn't used it in a VERY long time.

He couldn't find it. "Where…where the hell is it?!" He yelled to himself. His puffles were staying away from him. He was dripping with blood. There was nothing he could do about it. There were so many ice blocks that he could check. But he didn't have time for them all!

"Come on…!" He yelled. "WHERE THE HELL IS IT?!"

He stopped short when the sound of glass breaking erupted. He turned to see goons from every window coming in. It was insane. He knew he was going to die. They were armed. He had nothing.

"I'm here to finish what the Killer couldn't do because you escaped!" A goon yelled with a giant gun pointed to Rico's body.

"I…" Rico couldn't really believe it was ending this way.

"Nowhere to run…nobody to save you, hell you've got nothing! Face it, Rico, it's the end of you." Another goon yelled.

"I…" Rico paused. He looked at the blood dripping from him everywhere. There was a trail. At least when he died, someone could locate the body. "I know it's the end. And…"

"And what?" a goon interrupted.

"I'm…I'm glad…I'm tired of running. I've been running from my fear for a while. And now, it's time for the end…" Rico said, facing facts. Suddenly, random parts of Rico's igloo started collapsing, landing on goons.

"WHAT THE HELL?" yelled one goon that was crushed shortly after saying that. Blood was coming out of the ice that landed on them. It appeared as if all the goons were dead – like magic!

"Did that…did that just…"

"Your not out of the woods yet…" said one goon coming out from behind the couch. He cocked his gun. "Goodbye, Rico!" He was about to fire when suddenly…

BAM! A gun shot was heard in the distance as the goon fell over.

"Don't you just hate it when penguins kill you?" said Henry, holding a gun in his hand pointing at the dead goon.

_What a brilliant way to end the chapter, if you ask me! :3 _

_Chapter 3 is coming soon, don't worry. _


	3. My Dear Arsenal of Weapons

Club Penguin: EPF: NOTIO: Part 3:

The Rise of the Killer

Chapter 3:

_In the previous chapter, Rico had arrived at the base of the mountain with a possible broken arm. He didn't know it, but for some reason there was blood everywhere on him. Penguins were staring at him like he was a new form of penguin, or a mutant polar bear. He ran to his igloo after hoping to save himself and get some weapons from a secret area in his igloo (this 'area' has been in my past stories). Unfortunately, he didn't know where it was as he hadn't been in it for 7 months, and while he has great memory, he was drawing blanks. He felt every ice blocks when goons burst through the igloo and were ready to kill him. He was ready to die, too, and prepared to be shot when random parts of his igloo came down and crushed 99% of the goons. The only remaining goon was about to shoot Rico when he was shot by Henry…_

"H – Henry!" Rico couldn't believe his eyes. He was staring at a penguin that everyone thought was dead. "I – I – I knew it. You're alive…e-everyone…they – they thought I was…"

"I saw everything…" Henry said with a straight face. "I've been watching over you from a distance…"

"And you…you never thought to…to save me?"

"I just did save you…" Henry said. He put the gun in his pocket and waddled forward.

"So wait…I…I jumped to my death…and you…you never…?"

"I was waiting for the right moment," Henry said. "And it's a good thing I did."

"I…I can't thank…I can't thank you enough…" Rico had a hard time getting words out. He was panting from all the running. He was sweating through his hoodie and was wanting to rest. He couldn't until he killed the Killer.

"You don't need to," Henry smiled.

"I…" Rico paused. "Where…where is the…"

"Over there…" Henry interrupted as he pointed to an ice block section over at the farthest wall from the door.

"Thanks," Rico said. He felt his pocket and then remember suddenly. "I gotta find…"

"Keys," Henry tossed the area door's keys to Rico.

"I still don't know how you do it," Rico said. "But come on."

Rico waddled over to the igloo-chamber entrance. What a normal penguin saw was a normal ice block. What Rico saw was a hidden lock for the key to fit into and twist around in. He entered the lock and then pulled open a thin door. He then proceeded to pull out several ice blocks that would reveal the stairs to the hidden chamber.

Before going down the stairs, Rico put the ice blocks back in. Nobody knew about the chamber, as I said before, except for Rico and a few other agents. Henry did, of course.

"So, what're you gonna – hide out here and wait 100 years for death?" Henry asked.

"No," Rico said waddling up to a touch screen. Everything was dusty. There were crates, tubes, screens, and all this tech stuff. It similar to the Killer's lair, but weaker. There was a cage that would come down on any intruder that wasn't ID'ed. He tapped the screen a few times.

"Hmm…" Henry said, finding a nice gun. He slipped it into his pocket when Rico wasn't looking.

"Put it back," Rico said, still staring at the screen.

"You're good but not good enough." Henry smiled. "You're learning."

"Yeah, but," Rico said. "Nevermind that," He tapped the screen a few more times and then some loud noises came from up the tubes. Some smaller tubes filled with stuff came down the tubes and into a box.

"What's all this stuff?" Henry asked, waddling over to the box.

"Don't touch any of it," Rico said, going over the box, too.

"Well, what is it…?"

"Weapons. I need them."

"So the hidden caves in the mine didn't have anything resourceful?" Henry asked, smirking.

"Nope, someone stole them. And you know who? The Killer." Rico said. "There were some expensive explosives and guns in there,"

"And what's the problem with that?"

"One touch and the island could go down," said Rico. He picked up a few of the smaller tubes and opened them. "Here's how I'm going to work this."

"Whoa," Henry looked at a giant samurai sword that Rico opened.

"Mint condition, don't steal it," Rico smirked. "I'm going to do what I can with it,"

"And here's a sharpener," Henry tossed him a sword sharpener.

"Thanks," Rico said. "Where are you going to be?"

"Well, I was planning on keeping a close eye on you," Henry said. "I'd take a bullet for you. After what you've done to help me, that's the least I can do. And if danger appears, I'll rescue you when the time is right."

"You've got special aircraft, I've seen it. So next time I'm falling off a mountain, you better come out with it and save me before I die."

"Sorry," Henry said. "Again – timing."

"Whatever, let's get a move on." Rico said. He headed for the stairs. Henry didn't follow. Rico turned around. Henry wasn't there. He looked again. Nothing.

"What…" Rico said.

"I'm here," said Henry, with a few guns. He waddled out of Rico's storage room.

"You discover a lot, don't you?" Rico asked.

"I discovered every room down here…" Henry said.

"That quick?"

"Yeah," Henry said. "Let's go,"

"Alright," Rico started for the stairs when a giant "BOOM!" sound came from his igloo. Debris poured into the chamber. Giant blocks of ice, furniture, and even stonework from some of his 'special things' poured in.

"Holy…!" Rico was being bombarded. "Henry…where.."

Henry didn't respond. A giant piece of ice came and hit Rico on the head.

"Ugh," Rico said. "Henry,"

More debris piled in. Soon enough, the only exit was blocked. Rico plowed his way through the debris.

"Henry, where are you…" Rico said. He suddenly spotted the grey goat of Henry. He grabbed it and pulled up Henry.

"Henry…are you…"

"I'm…fine…" Henry said. "But let's go…"

"That'd be great," Rico said. "Except – there's no way out…"


	4. The Escape

Club Penguin: EPF: NOTIO: Part 3:

The End of the Killer

Chapter 4:

_In the previous chapter, Henry and Rico went into the 'secret chamber' of the igloo. They were gathering weapons from Rico's arsenal and such during the majority of the chapter. Rico had gathered multiple weapons and Henry had helped him. When they were ready to leave, there was an explosion that trapped both of them underground._

_**Ah yes, and to Candence4911 - yes. ;)**  
_

"There's gotta be someway," Henry stated. "There has to be."

"I didn't design one…" Rico stuttered. "I made this place myself and never thought of another exit…"

"Do you have anything we can use to dig ourselves out?" Henry asked, searching through the storage room.

"I'm not sure…the fall from the mountain took a huge thing of memory and threw it out the window. And to top it off, I haven't been down here in forever. I couldn't tell you what is indeed down here."

"Hmm…" Henry searched the other storage rooms in the hallway. A penguin could probably live down there; at least if something other than a light bulb in each room was added.

"Well there's this…no, that won't work." Rico said. "Do you want to try and lift the debris ourselves?"

"I wouldn't make an attempt unless that was the only thing we could do." Henry said, still searching in storage rooms. He had a flashlight, which he clearly had stolen, and was shinning it on stuff to see if there was anything resourceful or useful. "There could be more that topples onto us if we try…"

"Aha," Rico smiled. "I found this beauty…"

Henry waddled over and shined his flashlight onto it. "A drill?"

"We can drill through the weak spots of the walls and drill upward." Rico said, giving input.

"That's…okay…" Henry said. "I guess we can try it."

"Alright," Rico turned it on. Suddenly, the drill started spiraling out of control and into the ground. "Henry, grab it! Agh, dammit, hurry."

Henry made an attempt to grab it. It started spiraling into the ground faster. A giant hole began to take shape.

"I…" Henry grabbed it. "Got it!" He grabbed it and turned it off.

"Now, we need to go to the walls and let's turn it on there…" Rico said, waddling towards a weak wall.

Henry carried the drill and they started drilling to the wall. He dragged it behind him and there were tracks that the drill made. They finally made it to a weak wall and turned it on. ZZZZZZTTTTTT! The drill was quite loud.

"ALRIGHT, ON THE WALL. KEEP TWO FLIPPERS ON IT!" Henry gave the drill to Rico.

"ME?" Rico yelled over the drill. "I'M COVERED IN BLOOD…HELL, YOU KNOW HOW TO USE IT!"

"WHAT DID 'COVERED IN BLOOD' HAVE TO DO WITH IT?" Henry yelled over the loud drill sound.

"NEVERMIND. GET TO IT!" Rico handed the drill back to Henry.

Henry started drilling into the solid wall and giant chunks of debris started cracking off the wall and flying at them.

"AAAAAAH, TURN IT THE HELL OFF." Rico yelled over the drill, trying to avoid the debris.

Henry did so and the debris stopped.

"Now what…" Rico said, stopping short. There was a weird sound coming from somewhere in the hallway that was like a "Pfffvvvvvtttt!". "Do you hear that?"

"Sssshhh!" Henry shushed. He slowly waddled towards the sound. Rico followed.

Their destination was the hole. The sound was coming from it.

"Down there…" Rico said. "Too small to fit throoo-"

"PLSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH!" Water came rushing out of the hole before Rico could finish. No, the drilled didn't hit a pipe – it had drilled so much snow in that much time that water overpowered it, forming a geyser.

"Dammit!" Rico yelled. "We've met our doom!"

"Hold your puffles, Rico, that's good!" Henry shouted over the geyser's loud 'plssssshhh!' sound.

"HOW THE HELL IS THIS GOOD? THE ISLAND IS GOING TO SINK IF IT OVERPOWERS THE –"

"It'll flood the hallway and move the debris. We'll swim around it and get out of here!" Henry shouted.

"PUT HOW THE HELL DO WE STOP IT FROM SINKING THE –"

"Dude, stop screaming, hold your puffles, we'll figure that out." Henry said. The "PLSSSSH" sound was getting quieter but the hallway was filling fast. Debris started floating slowly towards them and more poured in from the entrance.

"Get your spy gadget out, call for help or something in case we don't make it." Rico said.

"Are you crazy? Nobody can know I'm down here! They'll arrest me!" Henry gave Rico a look that made Rico feel retarded.

"Sorry…!" Rico said. "Come on, let's start swimming. Stay together!"

They started swimming through the hallway around the debris which started to clear up. Halfway through, a cabinet came and hit Rico in the head.

"Blurbing blub!" was all Henry heard. Underwater, they couldn't understand each other. All they got were 'blurbs' and 'blubs'. They finally reached the stairs when the water was already pouring into the igloo.

They arose from the stairs and Rico was the first out. He peered into the igloo slowly. He nearly fainted from the sight of all the destruction. Everything in there was damaged in some way. The ice wall surrounding the igloo had been blow off. This wasn't an igloo – this was a yard!

"My igloo!" Rico said. "DO YOU SEE MY IGLOO? DO YOU SEE MY IGLOO? ARGH FLIPPING TAXI CAB AND GRAPE VINE! MY IGLOO!" Rico started throwing a hissy fit (or in my slang – a hissena fit). His igloo was gone and some parts had flames coming out. The water from the geyser would surely take care of that, however.

"We have to get going!" Henry said, holding the crate of weapons.

"AGH, MY IGLOO, IT – wait you brought the weapons?" Rico asked.

"Yes, I wouldn't forget."

"Already, what'd you take?"

"Pistol. 62 caliber. Sorry, it was shiny." Henry smirked.

"Whatever, that's what you'll get as a reward for rescuing the crate." Rico said. "I don't even know if…if my head band is still on my head…" Rico smirked weirdly. He ran over to a mirror and saw that it was in fact on there. But slowly, he noticed something weird. The blood he was covered in half an hour ago was gone…but that wasn't all. He looked down at the water surrounding his blue sneakers. It was red. Murky red. The same color as his blood. Which meant it had been washed away in the water.

"Well…" Rico said, not looking up. "Anyone who comes up here will think I was shot and drowned…"

"You don't say…" Henry looked down at the water surrounding his leather loafers. "I'll take care of it. And the geyser. I'll make sure nobody knows about it. You need to get going. If you need help, just gimme a shout. I'll be watching for you."

"How…?" Rico asked like he always did.

"I have ways, Rico. I have ways…" Henry smirked.

"Alright…" Rico grabbed the crate of weapons from Henry's flippers. He waddled over to the remains of his closet and pulled out a blue coat. He put it on and shoved some weapons in its pockets.

It was now time for the final showdown. Rico and the Killer were going to meet face to face again. This would be the final time for one of them. The only question…who will be the winner…and who will be the one who is dead in the end…that is what Rico was going to find out, whether he was ready or not.


	5. The Final Showdown

Club Penguin: EPF: NOTIO: Part 3:

The End of the Killer

Chapter 5:

_In the previous chapter, Rico and Henry made attempts to get out of the basement of Rico's igloo. They found a drill that would make them drill through weak walls in the basement. When they turned the drill on for the first time, it spiraled out of control and into the ground. Later, it caused a geyser sending water everywhere and flooding the basement. This was the chance to escape as it made debris float down into the hallway and cleared the exit. When Rico arose into his igloo, he discovered there was nothing left to it. Everything was damaged, making it basically a yard. He was furious at it, but Henry told him he needed to get going. Rico was ready to leave with his weapons at the end of the chapter to go 'kill' the Killer._

Rico started out of his 'yard' and onto Sleet Street. It was empty. Nobody was around. He turned to look at Henry who was finding some things he could use to stop the geyser.

"Henry…" Rico said.

Henry turned to look at Rico. "Yes?"

"Uh…thanks…" Rico stuttered. "Thank you for all you've done."

"There's no need…" Henry said. "You were the one that should be thanked…"

"I know, but since there's a 90% chance I may never make it back here," Rico paused. "I just want to thank you."

"No problem, Rico." Henry said. "Thank you for what you did."

"I guess I'll see you, hopefully." Rico said with a straight expression.

"You'll make it back…" Henry assured. "Everything will be fine."

"I hope…" Rico said. "Goodbye…" He started up the street as Henry turned back to what he was doing.

Rico stopped short and turned to look at the beautiful street of igloos he lived on. It may be the last time he was ever to see it. He looked around him. Everywhere there was some sort of beautiful object that made the street stand out. And for several years, he had lived here. He turned to keep waddling and stopped along the way at each place to get a good look at it as it'd be the last time he ever saw it. He noticed a sign on the Coffee Shop that said, "CLOSED". He remembered the others that were captured, being threatened by the Killer. He knew he may not be able to save them. He knew he was probably going to die.

He arrived at the Ski Village fifteen minutes later. The Tallest Mountain was straight ahead. Instead of going towards it, he waddled into the Phoning Facility.

On the bar of the elevator, he left a note that said –

"Dear reader,

This is agent Rico1206, better known as Rico, leader of 'Squad No. 1', or 'Top Squad'. I am writing this to inform you that I am on the Tallest Mountain as of now, and I may be dead when you read this. For a month now, I have been trying to stop a killer who has captured all of my team members and is threatening to kill them. He has also captured the fire crew and may have killed them. I have no idea where they are being held, but I know he is on the Tallest Mountain. When you get this message, you can come looking for me if you want, however, bring whatever weapons you have as he has plenty of them. You may be able to stop him with a bunch of you rather than just one.

-Rico…"

He left the Phoning Facility and headed towards the mountain's base. He arrived shortly after and looked up. It was a long way up.

"Well…" Rico said. "Here I go." He made sure he had everything. Weapons, yes…climbing gear, yes…grappling hook, yes.

He launched his grapple gadget and it reached the top. He zoomed up to the top and his heart started beating really fast. His stomach starting acting weird and his adrenaline was being all awkward. He stopped short.

_What is the point of acting scared? _Rico thought. _I need to stop being scared. I need to be determined if I'm going to win. I need to do what's right. _Rico suddenly realized being scared wasn't going to help. He started to get mad and determined. He knew that he may not win, but he knew it'd be better to try with determination than to not. He turned around and looked down at the island one more time. Grey clouds were forming ahead and it looked like it was about to rain. Whether or not it'd be the last time he'd see this view of the island, it was a pretty sight. He turned back around and waddled quickly to the Killer's base. He was ready.

After he passed through the forest, he saw the Killer's lair in clear sight, as well as the Killer.

"Ah, so I see my guest has returned…" the Killer said, sharpening one of his swords. He was far enough away so Rico couldn't hear him, of course. "Let's see how he fares…"

Rico didn't stop waddling. He came at the Killer quickly. It took the Killer by surprise.

"Ah, faster than he has ever…" the Killer said. "Hmph…"

Rico came at the Killer and pulled out a samurai sword and stabbed him right in the arm.

"Is that all you've got?" the Killer smirked. He didn't do anything about the pain. He grabbed Rico and put him in a sleeper hold.

"Get…the…hellll….offff….meeeeee…" Rico pulled a 52 gauge from his coat, still gasping for air. He fired it at the Killer's arm several times.

"Pain doesn't faze me, dumbass…" the Killer smiled evilly. He grabbed a few knives and another samurai sword. He stabbed Rico in the leg and put a cut it in with the sword.

"Agh, you little…" Rico grabbed a rifle and fired it at the Killer's head. It sent his hat flying off.

The Killer laughed and then fired a machine gun. Rapid firing bullets went into Rico's arms and part of his body. He was trying to protect his heart.

Rico grabbed the Killer by his…neck…if penguins even have one…and threw him on the ground. All of his weapons went flying into different places.

"Why…why the hell are you doing this?!" Rico yelled. He grabbed a knife. "It's time to end you!"

The Killer reached for a gun that was few feet away. He grabbed it and put it up to Rico's beak. He fired it but it was empty.

"HELL WITH YOU." Rico yelled. They were both covered in blood. "Nobody should be killed without a reason…!" He started stabbing the Killer multiple times in the body. He grabbed a few guns and started shooting him. Bullets and stab wounds covered his body. Blood that dripped from Rico was on his glasses, his beak, everywhere. There was blood all over the snow and tracks everywhere. It all came from two penguins.

"I…" the Killer said, still not dead. "I loovv…"

Rico grabbed a huge knife and threw it into his body. Drops of rain started falling onto the island and the mountain. Rico was breathing and panting very hard. Sweat, blood and rain were all falling everywhere; it was hard to tell which was which.

It took a few seconds for Rico to come to reality. But when he did, he realized something. He just did the impossible. He made it possible. He had just killed the Killer.


	6. Reunited and It Feels So Good

Club Penguin: EPF: NOTIO: Part 3:

The End of the Killer:

Chapter 6:

_In this amazingly long part of the Killer Trilogy, a lot has happened. In the last chapter, Rico was headed for the final showdown with the Killer. He didn't know if he'd make it back so he got one last look at the island and its views from certain places along the way. He left a note at the Phoning Facility telling agents that he was probably dead on the Tallest Mountain. Rico and the Killer did 'the final showdown' and with all the blood that had been dripping and appearing, it would've appeared that they were both dead. In the end, Rico did the impossible…he killed the Killer. But that's not the end of this story…there's still much more, such as another problem that Rico will face later in the part, the reuniting with the agents, the rescue, and the ending. Stay tuned, penguins, we're in for a wild ride!_

Thunder had roared above Rico and the rain fell harder. Rico was still staring down at the dead body of the Killer with the knife in his flipper. He had been panting and sweating for a long time.

He couldn't believe he had just done the unthinkable. He had killed the unkillable. He had killed the Killer. He had done his top-priority. Now he had to do another priority – rescue the agents. But of course, he had to find them. That was the most challenging part.

He waddled into the Killer's lair, still covered in blood. The cave was dark and empty. There was blood in the chair that Rico had previously sat in. He searched desks and drawers for any clues as to where the others could be. He didn't find anything but a note that said – "34, 12". He had no idea what that meant, but he had to add that to the list of riddles that were made by the Killer, or as he called him, "the Riddler".

He found some of the files from the squad's office and searched every one of them quickly. He had something in there important, it seemed. What was it? I'm not allowed to tell you. He couldn't find it after searching numerous files.

"Looking for something?" said a familiar, British voice. It was Henry standing behind him at the entrance. "I see you…survived." Henry stuttered.

"I…" Rico gagged happily. "I can't believe I…"

"You did it because you knew you could." Henry stepped forward. "And now I can tell you that you've done the impossible, because you have."

"Thanks…" Rico said. "I'm uh…looking for…"

"I know," Henry said. "You focus on finding the others. I'll find it for you."

"What if someone sees you?"

"I'll do what I always do…" Henry said. "I'll disappear."

"I found this note – what could it mean?" Rico showed Henry the note.

"34…12…" Henry read. He repeated it to himself several times. "Perhaps it is a…combination to something?"

"A bigger question is where they are. Where could he put my squad and the others?" Rico looked at Henry.

"It's gotta be hidden somewhere. I'd check wherever you see a weak spot in something." Henry said.

"Weak spot…" Rico said to himself. He repeated it to himself several more times. "Weak spot…weak spot…weak spot…WEAK SPOT! I GOT IT!" Rico said. He waddled quickly to the exit.

"I'll look for the 'you know what'." Henry shouted.

Rico didn't even hear him. He was excited. He swore he knew where the agents were. The rain poured down and the thunder roared. A penguin could get struck by lightning up here faster than anywhere else on the island. He didn't care. He had escaped death before. He ran to the weak spot in the snow he had found earlier while waiting for a reply from Henry (in part 2). He dug the snow out from around it. It revealed a steel door. It needed a key.

"PERHAPS YOU'LL NEED THESE?" Henry tossed some keys to Rico from a far distance.

"HOW'D YOU KNOW?"

"YOU KNOW HOW I AM," Henry said. "I'LL SEE YOU WHEN YOU GET BACK!"

Rico grabbed the keys and almost dropped them when putting them in the lock. It was slanted at an angle into the ground. He opened the steel door and a combination lock appeared. It was almost as if it was a safe; a locker to hold penguins.

"Dead end…" Rico said to himself. "What's the combination…?" He thought and tried possible numbers. It didn't occur to him until five minutes later what the answer was. "Wait a minute…" Rico looked up and straight ahead. He thought back to a few moments earlier. The combination – 34, 12. He entered it just like how you'd do a school locker and it opened. The next moment was one of the happiest and saddest moments in his life.

_(insert random line break)_

Rico stepped through the steel door. He was amazed at what he saw. Penguins…some from the EPF, some from the fire crew, and even those from his squad, all had looked miserable. They hadn't noticed him. They had torn clothes; the same clothes they had all worn when they were captured – it had just been that long and they had been…well, it's too upsetting to hear. They were all moaning, starving, banging on walls. Some had even gone crazy. They were trying to find ways out. It looked like a concentration camp! All this was housed in an underground-safe looking thing! What cruel penguin would do such a thing? The Killer!

Rico blew his whistle. Everyone saw him. Everyone noticed him. Everyone started cheering. Some were crying. Some were running up to him. It was as if inmates had just been broken out of jail!

"WE'RE FRICKEN SAVED!" a fire crew penguin yelled.

"WHO IS OUR RESCUER?" yelled another.

Rico spotted his squad along with Barista and another agent standing there waiting for penguins to clear out. Rico grabbed his phone and dialed the EPF's police line.

"I need an ambulance, or whatever the hell you can get up here on the Tallest Mountain. 30-40 penguins…all starving, injured or something. I need you up here…now!" He got off the phone and ran up to his squad.

"RICO!" Rookie yelled. He ran up to him and gave him an awkwardly big hug.

"Whoa…whoa…Rookie…" Rico said. He let him have it. Hey – he hadn't had it in a long time from anyone. He was glad to see his team.

"Boss…" Jet Pack Guy still had a shot wound. He had a giant towel over it. "I…"

"I have help on the way…" Rico said. "Everything is fine from here on out."

"But where's the Killer…?" asked Rookie.

Rico was speechless. "I…"

"Is he still out there…?!"

"I…I killed him…" Rico said slowly.

Their eyes all widened. "YOU…!" Dot ran up to him and hugged him so tightly he couldn't breath. "YOU SAVED US…you did what…what he said you couldn't…"

"I…" Rico said, gasping for breath. This hug made him feel good. "What…what's been…uh…goin' on…here?"

"He's had us here, me the longest…we haven't seen the outside in…days…" Dot said, tearing up.

"I uh…I had some help from someone to help me…" Rico said.

"I can't believe…" Barista said. "You killed the Killer…" He had been shot in the arm of his flipper. He had a giant gauze pad around it. "I knew you could…"

"I have the hospital crew coming…" Rico said. "What did he do to all of you?"

"He made us…tell him where…and what…you were doing…" Rookie couldn't handle retelling the story of the horrible weeks he had experienced. "And if we didn't…he…" He gulped. He had a few tears under his red sunglasses. "He…s-s-s-sh-shot-t u-us…or a-abus-sed us…" He could barely get it out.

He couldn't believe it. This wasn't a mean penguin; this was the real meaning of evil.

"Everything…" Rico said. "Everything is fine now…"

"We…we were all going to…rebel." Barista said. "I didn't like being here…we met so many others. We never got food. I had to make some coffee with my remaining supplies…"

"I thought…" Rico gulped. "I thought you were all…dead…"

"We survived…" Dot said. "But barely…"

"I…" Rookie said. "I just…" Rico had just now realized Rookie had been shot in the arm of his flipper as well.

"Did anyone…die…?" Rico asked. The hospital crew had now arrived and were taking the injured on stretchers and doing stuff with them. It looked like it was a shooting massacre. EPF everywhere, hospital crew everywhere. They were the only ones left in the 'safe'.

"Some…" JPG said. "The fire chief…"

"We met…" Dot said. "This friendly…uh…agent…who had been captured trying to rescue the fire crew…" Dot paused. "She had helped Jet Pack Guy with his bullet-wound and helped stop the bleeding…"

"She saved my life…" JPG said. "Even though, back in…what was it – 3rd grade, I uh…stole her…Beta hat and uh…she hasn't really liked me since…" He took a deep breath. "I never really..." He paused. "I didn't think she'd...forgive me but...she did..."

Rico was amazed at what skills were going on in here. Agents helping agents, others helping others. It was what penguins did. They helped others. They all helped each other; not just to get out, but to save each other's lives. Rico couldn't believe it. Even the meanest penguins or fire-crew penguins were helping. Was it because they knew they were going to die and wanted to die being known as a life saver; or they just thought their kind acts would help them get out? Whatever it was, Rico didn't care. He was glad he had rescued his team and a bunch of others. Most of them would've been dead if he had waited another day.

"How many agents were here besides you?" Rico asked the agent. She was a girl penguin who was purple with a 6th Anniversary Party Hat, an amulet, the Beta Hat T-Shirt and Blue Sneakers.

"Just…just me…besides your…squad." She looked like she had seen a ghost. Rico's stomach flipped. All these penguins suffered. He should've turned himself in.

"This is my fault…" Rico said.

"No, it's…" Dot interrupted.

"Whatever. It's no time for blaming…" Rookie said.

"I never got your name…" Rico looked at the 'unidentified agent'.

"I'm uh…agent C…or better known as Candence…" Candence said.

"I will be sure to report your life-saving acts and heroic skills to the Director…" Rico said, amazed.

"I was trying to be stealthy because I'm from the stealth class…" Candence said. "But he saw me…"

"It's done and over with…" Rico said. "We will never have to deal with this again…"

"I uh…I'm going to uh…hoof it out of here…I think I should get this wound checked out." Barista said.

"Same here…" Rookie said.

"I need to just make sure that there's nothing wrong with it…" JPG said. "It hurts…"

"I'm going to uh…" Candence said. "Head back to my igloo…and uh…" She paused. "Actually, I'm going to uh…head to the hospital and help out with my uh…hospital skills."

"Alright." Rico said. "The hospital, if any of you didn't know, is in an igloo, just so you guys don't think that something happened while you were…in here…" Rico said. The four agents headed out, leaving Dot and Rico remaining.

"I uh…." Dot was shaky.

Rico made sure no one was around and waited for the last ambulance and stuff to go away. He waddled up to Dot and hugged her.

"I…I knew you'd…" Dot said. She burst into tears. "I knew you'd…save…"

"I know you did." Rico said quietly. He kept his arms around her.

"It was…terrible…" Dot said. "I just…"

"Everything…" Rico said as Dot wiped her tears. "Everything is fine now." His soft voice calmed her down. After a long scene of making out, which they hadn't done in a while, Dot decided she had to head to the hospital to check on the others.

"I'll catch up with you in a bit…" Rico said.

"Promise…?" Dot asked, hopeful.

He closed his eyes and smiled. "I promise."

He waited until she was long gone and then let out a huge sigh. "Alright, come on out…" Rico said with his back turned to the back of the safe.

Henry jumped down from the ceiling. "You're getting better, of course."

"I have no idea how you got in here, but I knew you were here." Rico said. "Hand it over."

Henry tossed him the file that Rico was looking for. "It was hidden under a stack of images of you."

"Thank you." Rico smiled. "I have to catch up with…"

"I know, and I'll leave you to it." Henry said. "I've got to get going. The EPF almost caught me earlier. Luckily I was able to move away silently!"

"Good deal…" Rico said. "I'll see you later…" He started towards the exit when he turned back. "Alright, hand it over…"

"Damn you…" Henry smiled, tossing Rico's spy gadget over.

"I'm getting better…" Rico smiled and yelled back to Henry as he exited the cave. _Everything will go smoothly now…_Rico said. _The mission is complete. _One thing Rico didn't know at that time was how inaccurate that statement really was.

_**So penguins, the chapter ends here. But there's way more to this story! What will happen next? You'll have to find out then. **_

_**Oh, and to Candence4911 - ;)**_


	7. All In a Day's Work (Or Is It?)

Club Penguin: EPF: NOTIO: Part 3:

The End of the Killer:

Chapter 7:

**_AUTHOR'S NOTE TO READERS: School starts up again tomorrow for me -.- I may not be able to get out a chapter a day like I have been. However, I will try to. :3 Sorry if this causes any inconvenience. _**

_This is the longest part yet! And it will continue to get bigger as I have plenty more chapters planned! Anyhow, in the previous chapter, Rico was reunited with his team and several others. He had learned the heroic acts of several penguins from the fire-crew or from innocent penguins, and even a captured agent. He couldn't believe what he had seen when he had found the squad. An ambulance, don't ask me how they got up there, came to the top of the mountain and loaded the injured and took them to igloo hospitals. Dot and Rico did a huge get-together scene where the basically did some things. After a short bit of talking, Dot left and Rico said he'd catch up with her. When no one was around, Henry gave Rico the thing he was looking for. Rico got a move on and the chapter ended._

Rico limped his way towards the brief forest. He could see tire tracks, blood marks, gauze, towels, flipper tracks and other stuff headed through, as well as a large opening in the forest that he assumed the ambulance had gone through. How the ambulance got up there, he had no idea. He was just glad that his squad was safe and that there were very limited fatalities.

The body of the Killer had been taken and was no longer there, however, blood marks still remained in that spot. Rico didn't really want to think about the battle that went on there. He just wanted to get a move on and go see his squad. There was still more to discover, however. Who was the one that blew up his igloo? Who was the one that blew up the Command Room? Why did they do it? Why did the Killer want Rico? Did any of the others know why? He was planning on opening an investigation after he got his arm and stab wounds checked out.

He reached the cliff of the mountain; the same cliff that he had jumped off and had been the first to survive doing so. He had no idea if there was a crime penalty or something for that, but it was self-defense. Surely the EPF would understand. He pulled out his grapple gadget and launched it. When it hit the ground he slid down. It was a briefly long trip down but when it ended, he was happy. He was happy a majority were still alive. He was happy the Killer was dead. He was happy Jet Pack Guy had been saved by a heroic agent that didn't hold a grudge. He was happy that his squad was safe. But mostly, he was happy that his girlfriend, Dot, was safe and had not been injured.

He kept waddling through the island. The EPF's teleportation system was offline thanks to the explosion. He couldn't teleport anywhere and he had lost his map. He knew the way around the island, however, so he headed towards the igloo area. The igloo hospitals were on Snow Plow Avenue. He headed in that direction, knowing where it was, and arrived at the only igloo hospital that wasn't full. He had guessed his squad was there because they had left last. He waddled up to the automatic sliding doors and they opened.

He waddled up to the attendant. She looked annoyed with several penguins that were hurried and rushed looking for loved ones. It was packed.

"WHERE…WHERE IS MY SON. YOU TELL ME OR I WILL FIND HIM MYSELF!" yelled one penguin trying to find their son who Rico had guessed had been captured by the Killer.

"I'm sorry sir; I think your son is in the other hospital! We don't have him checked in here!" yelled the attendant.

"HE BETTER OR I WEEELLL SUH- UEEEE YOUUUU…!" He waddled out, frustrated.

Rico waddled up to the attendant. She looked up, annoyed.

"Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for… 'Jet Pack Guy'…sound familiar?" Rico said.

"Ah yes, they are upstairs…room 12. They may have a doctor in there; look before you enter!" the attendant replied.

"How about a penguin named Rookie or Barista?" Rico asked.

"Rooms 11 and 13." The attendant replied. "Remember to knock."

"Thank you," Rico said. He waddled over to a ladder and climbed up. It was weird; what hospital had ladders? Didn't they need stairs and elevators? Or did they use chutes, ladders, tubes and grapple gadgets? He didn't care. He finished climbed and was greeted with a giant hallway filled with rooms, restrooms, surgical rooms, and tons of other rooms.

"All it needs is a food court…" Rico said, looking down at his weight-less body. 90% of the island was obese. P'raps he was the other 10%...? Anyhow, he waddled up to the door of room 11. He knocked on it.

"Come in…" said the voice on the other end. It was Barista. He entered. Inside, Barista was laying in a hospital bed, sitting up right talking to Dot. He had a new, fresh gauze pad around his arm where he had been shot.

"Barista…" Rico looked at his gauze pad. "Does it hurt?"

"Not as much. They gave me a shot that numbed me up. They're going to remove the bullet soon…Dot came in to talk to me and give 'parting words'."

Rico limped over to the bed. He looked at Barista. "I noticed a uh…sign on the Coffee Shop…"

"Looks like someone closed it down…" Barista said. "But soon," He sat up more as he was slouching earlier. "I'll be back and ready in action. I'll even consider hiring employees."

Rico laughed. "You should really consider it."

"I know that now…" Barista said.

"I realize I should have never dragged you into this mission…" Rico said, feeling guilty. "I am really sorry for your uh…shot…wound…if that's what you call it."

"It's not your fault," Barista said, looking at the gauze. "I did it for the help of you. I uh…I refused to give any information out about you…I uh…"

Rico looked like he was paying attention on the outside. Inside, there was a huge twist in his mind. Barista, a shy penguin who wasn't determined and easily frightened, had taken a bullet for him. He never would've expected it.

"You…" Rico interrupted. "You took a bullet for me?"

"Yeah…" Barista stopped short of what he was saying. "I didn't want him to find you…"

Rico didn't know what he wanted to do. Barista was one of the penguins that had helped save his life. Rico felt selfish. He had so many penguins taking bullets because of him. He was a squad leader, and one of the best, but he didn't expect that.

"I…uh…" Rico said. "You didn't have to do that…"

"I needed to…" Barista answered. "You've been nice to me and tons of others. I thought it was the least I could do. You make me smile, Rico. I used to look up to you before I had advanced to the new PSA."

"You still didn't need to do that…" Rico said. "Helping penguins, being nice – it's me. It's in my blood. I was born with it. I don't expect anything in return. And taking a bullet for me is something that I would never expect…you're a true agent."

Barista didn't know what to say. Before he could say anything, a doctor knocked and came in; this was good for Barista who was still searching for words to say.

"I apologize for interrupting, but we need to begin the surgery to remove the bullet or it will get infected…" said the doctor.

"That's…" Rico said, still looking at Barista. "That's okay…"

He and Dot started out of the room. Rico suddenly turned back to Barista.

"Barista…" Rico said.

"Yeah?" Barista looked away from the doctor and put his glance on Rico.

"Thanks…" Rico said.

"No problem…" Barista smiled. He turned back to the doctor and Rico and Dot left the room.

Rico and Dot closed the door behind them. The hallway was empty.

"You were silent back there," Rico looked at Dot.

"He had uh…told me everything." Dot replied. "I couldn't believe it."

"He didn't need to do that,"

"But he did; for you." Dot said. "And I would too." She smiled.

Rico briefly blushed and then waddled over to the next room, room 12, which was where Jet Pack Guy was. He knocked and Jet Pack Guy said to come in.

"Jet Pack Guy," Rico said as he ran up to his bedside and still limping. "I need to tell you something…"

"Whoa…" JPG's eyes widened under his sunglasses. He was sitting up in his hospital bed. "What is it?"

"I need to thank you…" Rico said. Dot came up next to him. "You…"

"I what…?" JPG asked.

"You took that bullet for me…to save me…" Rico smiled.

JPG shrugged his shoulders. "Hell, it's all in a days work for an agen-"

"No, that's not what an agent does. That is what a _true _agent does. And that is what you did." Rico said. "I know you have my back. I know you can trust me. And most importantly, I know you care."  
"Boss, you've done so much for me in the past, it's the least I could do." JPG smiled.

"That's more than what I've done…combined." Rico said. "You saved my life."

"The doctors are going to be here shortly to get the bullet removed." JPG informed. "I'm glad it isn't life threatening…"

"So am I…" Rico said. He turned to Dot. "What did the four of you do every day…?"

"Well…" Dot said. "We waited."

"Waited for what…?" Rico asked.

"For you." JPG said. "We knew you'd rescue us. We just didn't know when."

"We convinced everyone that you'd be there, but after a while they didn't believe us. But we stuck to our word. We knew you'd be back." Dot smiled.

"I knew you would because you've done the impossible before." JPG said.

"I honestly didn't think I would…" Rico said grimly. "It was a surprise when he died with that last stab."

"Ha, you showed him I suppose." JPG laughed.

There was a knock at the door and a doctor came in.

"I'd like to apologize for interrupting the conversation, but we need to begin the operation…" the doctor said.

"Alright, well, Dot, let's get a move on." Rico said.

"I'll see you both when I'm done," JPG wished fair well.

"Got'cha!" Rico smiled back.

He exited the room with Dot back into the empty hallway and closed the door.

"Well…" Rico smiled.

"I knew you'd be back." Dot said. "I missed you terribly."

"Yeah, well, I didn't think I'd be back…" Rico said. "And I just barely knew where you guys were…"

"How did you find us?" Dot asked.

"I uh…I discovered a few tracks and the weak spot. I thought something didn't look right."

"Thank you." Dot said with a straight face. "Without you, Rico, the EPF would be done for. We'd all be dead. But that's why you are here – to help the EPF and give us strength." She made sure nobody was looking and then hugged him tightly; tight enough that he couldn't breathe.

When she finally let go, he had no words but a brief blush and then he knocked on the door of room 13. Rookie replied with 'come in' and so they did.

"Commander, I'm so glad you are here…" Rookie smiled. He was also sitting up in bed with gauze around his arm. At his bed side was Candence.

"Well…" Rico said. "How'd you get that bullet…?"

"I uh…refused, like the others, to give any information…" Rookie said. For once, he wasn't being naïve. He was actually acting serious.

"I figured…" Rico said. "And you know what? That wasn't necessary…"

"Commander, you've helped me so much in my life…" Rookie began. "You made me a better agent – you made me who I am. You made me not as naïve as I used to. I am still sort of 'silly' or naïve but at least I'm not releasing criminals out into the open like I did with Herbert."

"Today I've learned plenty of things I never knew I would…" Rico started. "But the biggest was that, despite the fact I've put so many behind bars, some of you actually care about me…"

"I always care about you and I always will." Dot said.

"Same with me." Rookie smiled.

"I know that but I never really thought about it." Rico said. "Until today, of course."

"Well, the doctors are going to be removing the bullet soon." Rookie said. "Candence and I have been talking about stuff. We knew you'd come here so we waited."

"Candence, you were never shot?" Rico asked.

"No; I really hadn't heard about you so I made something up – he thought I was in alliance with you or something." Candence explained. "So what I had to do, as I said, was make something up. I told him that you loved hanging out of the roof of the Stage…"

Rico laughed. "Well…thanks." He smiled.

"No problem." She smiled back.

Suddenly, there was a giant knock at the door. It occurred multiple times. It wasn't an obese doctor, nope. The door opened and EPF personnel came running up to Rico.

One had an "O" for a badge which meant "Official". "Officials" were sent by the EPF police for arrests and deploys and such.

"Rico1206…" the official said bringing out handcuffs. He grabbed his flippers and put them behind his back with handcuffs. "You are under arrest for the murder of an innocent penguin, the hostage and capturization of 30-40 penguins, the destruction of the Command Room and the death of Gary the Gadget Guy…"

"WAIT WHAT HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING." Yelled Rookie.

"Get your hands off of him!" Dot yelled.

"What the hell is going on? I never did any of those!"

"We have all the evidence needed to prove you are guilty. You have the right to remain silent and anything you say can and will be used against you in court." He locked the cuffs shut.

"I didn't do any of that! Ask them!" Rico said, eyes widened.

"It wasn't him! It was a black penguin with a blue fedora! He didn't look anything like him!" Candence yelled. "You can't falsely arrest someone!"

"We will settle this in court!" yelled one of the agents. "Now all of you shut the hell up!"

The official and the other agents grabbed Rico by the cuffs and took him out of the room. He had no idea what was going on and why, but he looked back at Dot on the way out and mouthed the words, "HELP".


	8. The Trial

Club Penguin: EPF: NOTIO: Part 3:

The End of the Killer:

Chapter 8:

_In the previous chapter, the agents had all been put in their hospital rooms and were going to have surgery to have the bullets removed. Rico and Dot greeted each agent. Each of them had taken a bullet for Rico. Whether it was refusing to disclose information about him, or jumping in front of him to give him a chance to survive, they had all saved his life. Rico had realized how much his squad and his friends actually cared about him as many other penguins didn't; they just saw him as a random, stupid agent. At the end of the chapter, the EPF personnel officials came through the room that Rico was in and arrested him…_

"You've made a huge mistake," Rico said as the official brought him to the "Everyone's Prison Facility" (as mentioned in "Framed!").

"We have the evidence available…" said the official, jerking Rico into a straight position. They kept waddling. He was being basically held captive. He yanked backwards which made the official lose grip.

"I don't understand and something isn't right here!" Rico said. "I'd like to see your official EPF personnel IDs as I am not sure you work for the EPF."

They pulled out their official personnel IDs and showed them to him.

"If I end up back on the Tallest Mountain to be killed…"

"You're going insane…" said the official, grabbing Rico's cuffs. They started waddling into the Phoning Facility. "If you were the one who commit the crimes, why are you so worried?"

"I DIDN'T DO ANY OF THOSE." Rico yelled. "I want to see the evidence. As soon as we get down there!"

The official used his ID on a pull out on the pillar at the bottom left. It lifted and an elevator appeared that took you to the Everyone's Prison Facility.

"This is unbelievable," Rico said as the elevator went down. "I have already been convicted of something falsely and now it is happening again."

"This isn't falsely," said one of the agents. "We've got the evidence to prove it…"

The elevator doors opened and they were greeted with a bunch of convicts and officials scurrying about.

"I'll let the prison guard take care of you." The official let go of Rico and gave him to a guard.

"He's in my hands now?" the guard asked. "Whatever, I'll get him checked in."

The guard took Rico to the check in center where the attendant signed Rico in and stuff.

"Name?"

"Seriously…?" Rico looked at the attendant.

"What is your first name…? Does it get any simpler than that?"

Rico rolled his eyes. "Rico…"

She typed in the name. The guard took Rico to a cell while the official from the EPF told the attendant why he was there and all the other stuff.

Rico entered his cell which looked like hell and was confused. "Wait, what…what kind of prison…what is this – some kind of game? What happened to the mug shots?"

"Things have changed," the guard closed the cell door and locked it. "Newbie…" he murmured under his breath when he waddled away.

Rico turned to see who his cell mate was. He didn't have one. He was forever alone in a hell of a cell.

He got onto the horribly made cell bed and looked up at the one above him. He began to think. He thought about everything that has ever happened to him. He thought about his near death experiences, his island-saving experiences, and more importantly, his squad experiences. The time when he would hang out with the squad in the office late at night, not focusing on work or anything. They weren't always up for solving cases in the middle of the night. So they would just hang out. They'd do whatever they wanted to.

He thought about many things. He eventually fell asleep and began to dream. He dreamt that nothing had ever happened. He dreamt that the Killer was a myth. He dreamt that Gary wasn't dead. He dreamt that he had never return to the EPF; he wouldn't be targeted by criminals, many wouldn't hate him, he wouldn't be yelled at for things he did. He'd live a free life and would have no worries. However, in that dream, he saw someone that had his spot in Squad No. 1 when he had quit. It was Rookie – of all penguins – Rookie!? They were trying to solve a case that involved some missing items from the Gift Shop. Unfortunately for the squad, Rookie had accidentally triggered the alarm system at the Gift Shop which caused a self-destruction of the place. More places started to self-destruct. Tons of them. It all came down to one igloo – one particular igloo…Rico's. It didn't blow up. It stayed as it was. Aerial view of the destruction had shown the damage had showed some sort of…word. Rico saw/dreamt himself in a helicopter looking at the damage. The word had shocked him and almost made him black-out. It read – Rico.

Rico awoke suddenly as if he had been woken by someone. He hadn't – his dream had just scared him. He realized that maybe joining the EPF and returning was a good thing. He wouldn't have to worry about the island's destruction.

"I…" He murmured. "I did the…"

Suddenly, a guard came to the cell. He unlocked it. "Alright, time for your trial."

"My trial? What…how long have I been asleep?" Rico was confused.

"Two minutes and thirty-seven seconds, why?" the guard said.

"Don't I…don't I get a set date for my trial? I don't…I don't have a lawyer or anything!"

"Then call one…" the guard tossed him a phone. "I'll wait for you."

Rico called someone he knew that was a lawyer. His lawyer would be there shortly, so Rico had to try to procrastinate.

"How about we move the trial to about…an hour from now?" Rico asked, hopeful.

"No." the guard said.

"Ah, whatever," Rico said. He was handcuffed and taken to the court.

_Later at the courtroom…_

Here he was. The courtroom. Rico had been here once before when he had been falsely convicted of the murder of an innocent penguin – Turbo – who was actually killed by Rock. He had been framed. But that was the past. This was reality. Had he been framed again…? By who, though? The Killer? The Killer was dead...! Rico wanted to see all the evidence, but he was going to have to wait until the district attorney arrived.

"Who's the new judge?" Rico asked the guard.

"I don't know…"

"You don't know? That's…retarded." Rico said, confused.

"You're the first case we've had since judge Billybob stepped down." the guard said.

"Let me guess…we now have judge Spike Hike." Rico rolled his eyes.

"No," the guard said. "We've got a new judge. Spike Hike isn't here."

"Who is it?" Rico asked. The doors opened as he said that and the judge, Rico assumed, had entered, as well as his lawyer, the district attorney, and the prosecutor.

"What a clown car that was…" Rico rolled his eyes.

"Alright, the trial is now in session," the judge stepped up into her spot. It was the first time he had seen a judge that wasn't a male.

The district attorney sat down as well as the prosecutor did. Rico's lawyer came up and sat next to him.

"Alright," his lawyer said. "I'm here."

"Thank you," Rico said to his lawyer. "Did you bring evidence?"

"Evidence…?" his lawyer replied. "I didn't have enough time to get any!"

The first time that Rico had been in court he had Businesmoose as a lawyer. He didn't have time to get evidence. Rico knew somehow, someway that he'd end up being convicted….that is unless his friends show up.

"Alright, before we begin, we need to introduce ourselves," the judge said. "I am the judge, obviously, my name is Icetail, better known as Icy, you know the deal with me," she informed.

"I'm the uh, bailiff, Bailiff Jay, that is." Bailiff Jay said.

"I'm the prosecutor…uh, Dalekcaan, and I will be presenting the evidence to the court as well as the district attorney will." Dalekcaan informed.

"I'm the district attorney, Harvey, and if you pour acid on my face like what happened to my cousin…"

"Your cousin is Two-Face?" yelled a penguin in the jury wearing a Batman tee-shirt.

"No!" Harvey yelled. "My cousin, well, there are two, they don't know a Two-Face – one's name is Jekyll – Dr. Jekyll, that is, and the other's name is Hyde, Mr. Hyde, that is."

Rico laughed silently.

"What's so funny?" asked his lawyer.

"His cousins are Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – haven't you heard of 'em?" (If you have no idea who they are, perhaps you should Google 'em.)

"No, and I don't care to." His lawyer said. She stood up to introduce herself. "I am the defendant's lawyer – Bellykid5, better known as Bellykid."

"Alright, this trial is now in session, for real this time," Icy began.

"Your honor, Rico1206, the defendant here, has been arrested for the murder of an innocent, IDed penguin, the hostage situation and capturization of 30-40 innocent penguins, the destruction of the Command Room, and the murder of Gary the Gadget Guy." Dalekcaan, the prosecutor informed.

"THE MURDER OF GARY?!" Icy was ready to jump over her uh…table thing, where judges sat. "I've been looking for the one who murdered him for so many months, and I now see that they are right in front of me?"

"I didn't kill him! He fell off of the Migrator when something happened to it! He drowned! It wasn't my fault!" Rico explained.

"Silence!" yelled Bellykid.

Rico looked at her. "Why are you silencing me…?"

"Oh, sorry, I mean, uh…" Bellykid looked for words to say. "How about…uh…"

"Anyhow, I'd like to hear the situation on 30-40 penguins being captured and held hostage – where's your evidence that I did that?" Rico said.

"Your entire squad, the fire crew, and even a random agent – all of them were captured, and you were the only one remaining. There's dead evidence that statement!" Dalekcaan yelled.

Rico crossed his arms. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "I'm the leader of the number one EPF squad! And you think, even for a minute, that I'd capture and kill that many penguins?" Rico was amazed at what they were thinking. "That's insane!"

"You were the one that killed one penguin," Harvey said.

"I was framed that time – you can't possibly bel-"

"Not then, now!" Harvey interrupted. He put a picture of the penguin's body from the coroner's office on the giant screen.

It was the Killer! Rico had forgotten all about him! One thing was for sure – they didn't have all the evidence to prove he did.

"The coroner has identified the penguin that you killed. Their name is Frost, Frost Bite, and we have plenty of evidence to prove it was you." Dalekcaan said.

"Really – what evidence?" Rico asked, furiously.

"For starters, the destruction of a cave that Frost had been working in. We believe that it was you only because you were the only ones around there, according to security camera footage – you said it yourself in the video – you were responsible. Second, we found your flipper prints on the knife, the sword and the gun that was responsible for the cuts, stab wounds and bullets in Frost's body. We also found weapons that were addressed to YOU that allegedly came from the Mine - how do you explain that? How had they gotten there? You put them there, it seems, and I believe that one-hundred percent! And lastly – we found several documents in the cave that was a few feet from his body. On the documents, it had YOUR SIGNATURE on them and they said that YOU had killed him!" Harvey said.

Rico's brain shattered into a million pieces. His heart blew up. All of that…all of it was true. He was responsible for the destruction of the cave. That is why the Killer didn't care that the cave was destroyed. It was part of his plan! The knife, the sword, the gun…all of it was used by him to kill him. The weapons from the Mine - those were his. The Killer had played a great move when he stole them. He set them in the cave and made it appear he used them. This was getting worse the more he had thought about it. But then there was the worst – Frost was the guy he met at the Ski Village…he had no idea that was him! He signed these papers without looking – huge mistake! He had no idea that they said he was responsible for the death of the Killer. He had been tricked!

"I…!" Rico couldn't get any words out. He knew all the evidence was there for killing him – he was innocent, though. There wasn't a way to prove it, however. And that's what the biggest contributing factor to the hearing was.

"Housing 30-40 penguins in what seemed like a concentration camp – killing an innocent penguin and lying when all the evidence is there…the murder of Gary…this penguin needs maximum sentence." Dalekcaan said, disgusted. "And you think it is okay…"

"Jury gets to vote on the verdict and or the sentence; the highest voted is the decision, the sentence begins immediately if it is prison time – if not, it will be scheduled. You have five minutes to decide." Judge Icy informed.

The jury talked it over for a few minutes and started the votes. Rico couldn't believe he was going to be convicted guilty on something he hadn't done.

"It's not so bad, Rico." Bellykid informed.

"This is bad," Rico said.

"Not all bad, though."

"How is this not bad?!" Rico asked looking her in the eyes.

"At least your puffles will get the remaining money that you are owed from the lottery that you won…"

Rico rolled his eyes. "This isn't going to end well."

Judge Icy was finally ready to finish the hearing and they began. "Jury, what is the verdict and or sentence that you have come to?"

"The murder of Gary the Gadget Guy, we have found the defendant, Rico1206…" said one of the jury members. "Guilty."

"On the count of killing Frost," said another. "We have found Rico1206 guilty…"

Rico's head was in his flippers as the guilty verdicts kept coming. He knew he was innocent, but no one else did. Finally, it was time for his sentence.

"We have come to a conclusion for the sentencing," said one jury member. "We have voted and the decision is made…"

The next words made Rico realize the biggest thing of the entire trilogy, something everyone said couldn't happen. The Killer had won, Rico realized. It came to him as the next words were said. "Rico1206…your sentence is death penalty."

_**Well, what is going to happen next in the story? Who knows besides me? You'll have to stay tuned to find out! ;) **_

_**Four penguins made special appearances in this story. They know who they are. ;)**_


	9. Secrets Revealed

Club Penguin: EPF: NOTIO: Part 3:

The End of the Killer:

Chapter 9:

_Wow, nine chapters already? Of course there will be more, but that's the longest I've had in any part so far! This is going to be my longest story yet and already is my most reviewed with the current total (as of writing this) at 46. My old record was 16 on an old story, then 19 on part one of this trilogy and now – who knows how many there will be? One thing is for sure, I couldn't have done it without any of you readers! ;)_

_Anyhow, let's get to the previous chapter's overview – in the previous chapter, Rico was taken to the Everyone's Prison Facility and put in a 'forever alone' cell. He was taken to court as four special penguins made an appearance in the story as the courtroom workers. He was given trial and then convicted guilty of all the counts that he was arrested for! He had been framed, yet again! Of course, he was innocent but there was no way to prove that so he ended up getting the worst sentence possible – death penalty…the same penalty he had received the first and only other time he had been arrested…and this meant one thing – the Killer had won. _

So here he was. Rico1206, a legendary EPF agent, one that had been arrested before on false counts of murder, was back in jail. He had no way of being proven innocent. He knew he shouldn't have returned to the EPF – but after the dream he had, he knew he should. He was split – like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He didn't know which the right decision was. Either way, they would've ended in bad stuff. But here he was, lying in a prison bed, waiting for death to come.

Rico fell asleep soon after he returned to his cell. He knew it may be the last sleep he ever had - besides the one that he was going to have in an electric chair. It sucked. He had to spend it sitting on that bed that was nowhere near comfy. He fell asleep and the dreams came to him again. He saw several things but only remembered a few, despite his brilliant memory.

He woke up again a short time later. He looked around the cell. It was dull; bland; disgusting; whatever you wanted to call it. This wasn't his final resting place, however; it was the place he'd be BEFORE his final resting place. His final resting place is, of course, nowhere near where he expected it to be - an electric chair. At least it wasn't in a chair on the Tallest Mountain or buried in snow. At least his friends'd be there to see the body, even if they didn't want to.

_Well I uh...hope my puffles know I'm...oh wait, that's right, they ran away in the explosion..._Rico thought. It was the same old song and dance as the last time; however his friends were in the hospital and there was no way to prove him innocent. _I can't believe it is going to end this way; _Rico thought. _Wait a minute...what the hell did I just say? There's no way it is going to end this way - because I am going to stop it from happening..._

Rico started to think a lot. He needed an idea - one that would work. He needed to get to the others or someone that was there to help prove him innocent. That, however, may've been impossible - if Rico didn't have such a great mind. After a few minutes, Rico got an idea. He had no idea if it was going to work, however, he could at least try it. It was nearly flawless. But there was a big contributing factor - one that made up 90% of the plan...and if it didn't happen, the plan would fail, he would die and this story would piss you off because there was no other alternative.

Rico fell back asleep and waited for the time to come. He hoped on his life that the time would come because if it didn't - he was going to die. But at least he would die well rested. :3

"You uh…got someone here." The guard told him.

Rico looked up suddenly. Who was here to see him? He was surprised. He got out of bed. "Who is it? Anyone important?"

"It's a uh…a girl…she says she uh, knows you." The guard replied as he opened the cell doors and grabbed Rico.

Rico knew instantly who it was. _This is perfect; _Rico thought. _My plan is surely going to work now that Dot is here._

_A minute later at the 'meet 'n' greet' room…_

The 'Meet 'N' Greet' room. Prisoners, inmates, and convicts, whatever the hell you called them – they all met with loved ones, friends, or whoever they could talk to here. Rico was glad to be here. He was taken to a separate cell where he saw Dot on the other side of bullet proof glass. They could hear each other through the glass, which was good on Rico's part, because he didn't want the guards to hear their private conversation through phones.

"I uh…heard you were…" Dot said, not knowing how to approach him.

"Again," Rico said. "But I'm sure that whatever happens, we'll be okay," He looked up at the ceiling. He was waiting for the right time to approach his plan.

"On uh, better news, the others have finished surgery and are going to be checked out. Everything is fine there…" Dot said. She didn't smile which was unusual. She always gave a warming smile after she spoke.

"That's uh, good…" Rico said, scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah, I, uh…guess it is." Dot said with a rather weird expression.

"Are you okay?" Rico asked, noticing her expression.

"I'm uh…fine, I just…" Dot said. She let out a huge sigh. "I guess it's uh…time…"

"Time? For what? I've got plenty of time; I'm not scheduled 'til –"

"No, I mean uh…" Dot said. "I know things that you've been uh…wanting to know."

"What do you mean?" Rico asked, confused.

Dot's expression suddenly changed to a more saddened one. Her eyes closed slowly. "The truth."

Rico looked at her. "What truth?"

"About the Killer…" Dot said. "I uh…know that I can um, trust you."

Rico was confused. "How do you…"

She interrupted with a huge sigh. "I know…more than what I appear to know…and uh, I need to tell you."

Rico also sighed. He really didn't want to hear but on the other hand he did. "Alright, I'm ready." He wasn't ready, however. And it took him by surprise what she said next.

"I am the reason…for all of this." Dot said.

Rico looked at her like she was crazy. "What're you – what're y- what're you talking about?" He leaned forward, confused.

"Let me just begin by saying," she began. "You may never want to see me again after I tell you everything. Be prepared."

Rico closed his eyes and let out another sigh. He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't think that I am never going to want to see you again, but…go on."

"I dated…the Killer…" Dot said. "I was the big role in this…" She let out a huge sigh. "It was a long time ago, back around uh, 2006…summer, you can say. We met at the Coffee Shop one day and he started flirting with me." She paused. "I thought he was uh, nice looking as well. So we uh, dated, I guess you could say. But then he made me his. If he saw any penguin staring at him, they may as well've said goodbye to the good side of their life because he planned on making their life terrible. I eventually got fed up with it and I uh, broke up with him. He was upset, mad and was threatening to kill me. I couldn't sleep at night. I didn't want to date him – I wanted nothing to do with him. I didn't love him. Eventually, the attacks uh, they stopped. I was surprised, and I hadn't heard from him in uh, forever. Around the time of the first attacks in late 2006, I had uh, moved on in life. I was becoming friends with more penguins and I assume that made him mad - it pissed him off. We eventually got his attacks to stop, but he kept coming back after a few months and it was the same story - over and over and over. He attacked a few times in 2007, and I uh, kept friending more penguins - I never stopped because it was my choice and I uh, never thought his attacks would ever reach the bad of a level as they did this past attack. The attacks stopped in 2007 and the EPF believed we ended him. I thought he was done; over. I was happy. I was finally able to sleep at night and friend whoever I wanted without worrying. I friended so many on the fire crew that he didn't know who I did and who I didn't." She took a huge breath and then continued.

"Then here we go in 2012. He returned and uh, immediately I knew it was for me. What did he want? He didn't want you because you needed to be killed as you were too good – same with the others. He wanted them because I had friended them. But he wanted you most…because we've been together the longest; not as friends but as...together. And he wanted to kill you. I knew he was after you, I just knew it. He uh, put his top priority on killing you and tried his hardest. Whenever he saw penguins that I friended, he captured them. He didn't know who it was I friended on the fire crew – he had no idea, but that's why he captured ALL of them. Nights in the area we were in when we were captured – I couldn't sleep. It wasn't because I wasn't tired or I was scared – it was because I knew he was after you and that it was my entire fault." She paused.

Rico looked at her like she was crazy. "You uh…" Rico said. "Do you know who was responsible for the…"

Dot suddenly broke down into tears. Rico couldn't tell why, but he had a feeling he knew.

"I had to…" she said through her tears. "He…he held me at gunpoint…" She took breaths and continued crying. "I didn't want to. He threatened to kill everyone in there, he threatened to kill me, and he threatened me with things no one should be threatened with…" She closed her eyes. "I'm sorry I destroyed your igloo, and the Command Room and that you are in jail for the Command Room's destruction. I wish I would've told you…sooner…" She said through her tears again.

Rico didn't care about anything she had said before. He looked at her and felt extremely sorry for her. He didn't care if she had dated twenty billion penguins or any of that. He wanted to burst through the glass and give her the biggest hug in the world.

"It's…" Rico said. "It's okay…"

"No…" she said. "I'll never sleep at night – I can't live with myself anymore…it's my fault you are in jail. It was my stupid decisions in life that caused this." She wiped away some tears and her blonde hair out of her face.

"Dot," Rico said in a calming voice. "Please calm down. We'll get through this."

She sniffled and wiped away a few more tears. She made eye contact with Rico for once. "I feel terrible, I'm sorry and I know you probably don't want to…"

"Dot…I don't care about the past. We can still be together. He's gone…"

"But…" she mumbled. "You're…still in uh…" she said.

"Look, I'll uh, I'll get out of this – one way or an…" Rico trailed off at the word 'another' as he blacked out and fell out of his chair to the floor.

_So now you know the truth. Keep it well, penguins. But there's more to come. What just happened with Rico? That'll be revealed tomorrow in chapter ten. Stay tuned penguins! The ride is still bumpy!_


	10. Help, Hope and Heartbreak

Club Penguin: EPF: NOTIO: Part 3:

The End of the Killer:

Chapter 10:

_In the previous chapter, Dot had come to tell Rico the secrets that had awaited him. Everything he needed to from why the Killer was doing to this and who caused the explosions. He didn't care if she was responsible for some of the things Rico was in jail for – he would rather there instead of her. :3 _

_Sorry for such a short chapter nine overview – that was pretty much it. :3_

"Doctor, doctor, he's back…" yelled the voice of a familiar penguin. Rico's eyes were slowly opening.

A doctor rushed up to Rico. "You're back…"

Rico slowly opened his mouth. "What…what happened…?"

"You blacked out in the prison facility and we had to bring you here to run some tests." The doctor replied. "It appears there wasn't much wrong with you – have you had a history of black outs before because it doesn't appear to be caused by anything…"

"Uh…yeah…" Rico said in a raspy voice that made him sound like he wasn't well.

"How often do you know of these occurring?" the doctor asked.

"About…" Rico paused and took a huge breath. "Once a year…uh…nothing major, they're rare for that matter…"

"Okay," the doctor said. "Is it alright if we discharge you tomorrow?"

"Uh…yeah…please…" Rico said.

"Alright, I'll be back in here later, but for now, there are some penguins that want to see you." The doctor replied.

"Alright…" Rico said. The doctor left the room and summoned the penguins in.

The voice that Rico had heard earlier was Rookie. He and the other three were there waiting for Rico to return hoping he wasn't dead. The doctor, however, felt a pulse which was good however Barista, being the worrying penguin he was, was a bit skeptical. They came up to Rico's hospital-bed-side and JPG and Barista went on one side of him.

"You're alive…" Barista said letting out a huge sigh of relief. "You survived…"

"You guys are done with the surgery I hear," Rico said, sitting up. His voice was normal and he appeared just fine; the others didn't understand.

"Yep. Nothing had to be amputated or replaced or anything. It was success…" JPG informed. "And I'm glad this igloo hospital was here for us."

"I have 'em on speed dial," Rico said.

"Commander, I heard you blacked out when Dot was talking to you?" Rookie came up next to him on the other side of his bed with Dot.

"Yeah, I – I don't know what…" Rico said. "What happened after that?"

"I yelled for the guards and they got you an ambulance," Dot replied. "They brought you here. It's been seven hours."

"Seven hours?" Rico's eyes widen. "Get me my 3D glasses," Rico summoned. Barista grabbed them from his bedside along with his head band and handed them to him. "Thanks," Rico put them on.

"So you're going to be discharged soon, eh?" Rookie said.

"Yeah, and uh," Rico looked around and summoned them to lean in close. He made sure no one was around and began to whisper. "You know should know I uh…faked the black out to get here and speak to you all, right?"

"What?!" Rookie yelled.

"Rookie, shut the hell up!" Rico whispered enough for him to hear him.

"Sorry, commander…" Rookie replied.

"Why would you do that, boss?" JPG asked.

"I needed to get to you all and I didn't know when you guys would be discharged from the hospital." Rico said. "I needed to speak to all of you – not just Dot. It would've been rather rough to relay the information to you."

"What information and why didn't you tell me before you blacked out? I was scared and I thought you were dead!" Dot said with a little bit of anger in her voice.

"If I would've told you, would you have reacted the same way? It's the same as _The Dying Detective_; did Sherlock tell Watson he was faking?"

"Boss, what the hell are you talking about? Have you been reading too many Sherlock Holmes again?" Barista asked.

"Whatever, that's not the point. I needed a good reaction that seemed real; that's why I didn't tell you. Anyhow, here's the deal…" Rico said. "You all have to prove me innocent; find some sort of evidence in the Killer's lair that can help me! This is just like the last time I was framed, but even worse. You have by tomorrow afternoon or it's goodbye boss."

"That sounds rather easy," Rookie said. "And uh, while I'm at it, how about I, uh, feed your puffles or clean up your cabinets or…?" He trailed off sarcastically.

Rico gave him a stern look and then continued speaking. "There has to be something up there – anything. Something has to prove me innocent. It wasn't my lawyer's fault I am in jail, she had no idea what was going on and had no time for me to explain or gather evidence – that is why I need you guys!"

"Alright, chief. That sounds pretty easy…" Dot replied.

"I'm all for it. We need to save our commander," Rookie replied.

"Whatever," Jet Pack Guy said. "After everything you've done for us in the past, it is the least we can do for you."

"And more importantly, I need to help. The Coffee Shop can clearly wait." Barista said. "They waited a month, they can wait another day. They have a coffee apron on sale at the someone's igloo I hear so there shouldn't be that much of a worry…"

"Whatever, just please…hurry…get there tonight, you don't even have to stay here with me. I am a man and I can handle myself, even if I'm not physically one." Rico replied.

"Then uh, let's go." Barista said. "Earlier the better…"

"Bye commander, I'll see you tomorrow." Rookie replied. He wave and left. The others said their goodbyes and they left. He honestly wanted Dot to stay but he didn't want to make the others suspicious. The relationship was still secret and only Henry knew about it as he had stumbled upon it by accident. However, Rico could trust Henry.

"Alright, come on out." Rico said. He had made sure no one was around and the door was shut tightly before he spoke.

Henry leaped down from somewhere in the room. Rico had no idea where but that didn't matter.

"I must say you are getting better with your noticing skills; and even better…" Henry said. "You faked your own black out."

"It was part of the plan…" Rico said. "Do you have 'the thing'?"

"Yes, after you were arrested and given a prison uniform, they put your clothes in a random pile with all the others. I was able to slip it out of your pocket. I will continue to have it for many days to come. As soon as you get out of prison, I will lend it to you." Henry smiled.

"I wish you weren't a thief," Rico said. "You would've proven me innocent before the trial started."

"I was thinking about that, too…" Henry said. "But on the brighter side of things, your igloo is rebuilt. On the unlit side, it needs new furniture, which, insurance informed me they would cover it…once you got some."

Rico rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I didn't get insurance because Gary and the EPF provided it and there was no time to sign up for it."

"And I apparently am good at doing a voice impression," Henry said. While he had a very thick British/English accent, he was very good at disguising it, whether it was as an American one, a retarded one – or even another penguin's.

"I figured that." Rico said.

"I have the evidence, however, that can prove you innocent. It is in the Killer's lair and it is out in the open, or in other case, the middle of the floor when you first waddle in. It's there to make their lives easier and make it quick. I don't want to see you go for no reason." Henry said.

"Thanks," Rico replied. "This will pass quickly, thanks to you."

"I can only hope so…" Henry said. "Well I must be off to my igloo for the night…"

"Thanks again for uh, helping." Rico replied. "I'll see ya tomorrow after I am released."

Henry lifted open a window and disappeared into the night, closing it before he left.

Rico rolled over and made an attempt to sleep, of course, with dreams along the way.

_The next day…_

Rico had a rough night. It was filled with nightmares and twisted dreams on why he should've returned to the EPF. _I get it! _Rico kept thinking. _I get it! I get it! I returned to the EPF despite if I thought it was wrong recently! I get it! I know I should've and I did! Stop haunting me with these thoughts and dreams!_

Rico was tired of these nightmares. They had the destruction of the island; arguments between red, blue, green and yellow; the island filled with trash; penguins fighting over the new Director and causing wars because of it. He returned but he never understood why he couldn't stop having these dreams!

_If only Gary was here…_Rico thought. _He would be able to stop these nightmares; run tests and figure out the answer…_

In the next room, Rico heard moans and sobs coming from what seemed to be younger penguins.

"Who did this to you…?" said one voice. It sounded like it was coming from an older penguin.

"Daddy, please don't die…" said another. It sounded like a little girl's voice.

"He's in jail now…" said a raspy voice of someone that Rico assumed was a dad of a penguin. Rico's eyes closed slowly and his heart grew big. Hearing this was ripping him apart.

"Where's mommy?!" said the little girl's voice.

"She's uh…" the dad struggled for words to say. "She went up to the uh, clouds…she wanted to uh…make the weather good."

"Noo…" said the voice that asked who did that to him. Rico clearly knew it was an older penguin and a younger one visited their dad. It seemed as if the parents had been shot by the Killer. And Rico felt like it was his fault.

"Whatever happens…" said the dad. "I will love all of you…" Suddenly the heart monitor beeped and went dead. Rico clinched his face and struggled. The dad was dead.

"Nooooooooo!" yelled the older one.

"DADDDDDDDYYYYY!" yelled the younger one. She, yes it was a she, started crying. So did the older one. "COME BACK DADDY…PLEASE."

It was followed by moans, sobs and tears. Rico sat there through it all. He couldn't believe this was the life he was living. He was allegedly responsible for this and he felt terrible whether or not he was. He wanted to do the same as they were but he was strong and never did. It was terrible hearing and it was shameful that it had to happen. Eventually the penguins had to leave the room and the room next door went silent.

He sat there in bed for a few more minutes and wondered about who else was dead, what other hearts were going to be broken and if he'd ever live with himself again. He also wondered about what he'd do when this all blew over. He'd do what he was planning on doing before the Killer interrupted his plans. His thoughts were interrupted, however, as a random knock as at the door.

"Uh…come in?" Rico asked.

It was a penguin wearing a white doctor's coat. He was a doctor, Rico guessed. He looked shorter than most and he hadn't known who he was as he had the same doctor each time. He ran right up to Rico's hospital bed with an angry look on his face.

"Listen here, buddy…" the doctor ran up to his bed. Rico saw that the coat wasn't a doctor as it wasn't filled with medical tools; it was filled with weapons. He grabbed Rico's neck *as I said before, I have no idea if they have necks* and held on to it tightly. "YOU ARE THE MURDERER OF MY PARENTS!"

Rico was gasping for air and wheezing. "No…I…"

"MY PARENTS! THEY HAD A WHOLE LIFE AHEAD OF THEM. AND SO DID I. BUT YOU KILLED THEM!" He tightened his grip. Rico was getting strangled by a random penguin – he was going to die here! "I'M ONLY 10. I LOVED THEM SO MUCH. AND YOU – YOU…" He looked as if he was going to cry. And he did. He started sobbing and loosened his grip.

Rico breathed heavily for air and did it quickly. He needed air. He saw the penguin was so young. Rico knew how he felt. "I…I didn't…"

"You…" the penguin said. "You killed them…" He was wiping tears and creating them. He had heavy tear-ducts, it appeared.

"I didn't…" Rico said through breaths. He felt terrible for the penguin. He was young; he had a life ahead of him. His parents must've been on the fire crew. They had been captured and been killed by the Killer. And here he was lying in a hospital bed with a penguin that had no idea he was innocent.

"Yes you did…" the penguin cocked a gun in his pocket. "And now you're going to pay! Death penalty may be scheduled but I want you dead – NOW!"

Rico's eyes widened. "But I…I didn't!"

"SHUT THE HELL UP." The penguin yelled.

"You've got a mouth, I see…" Rico said, remaining calm despite the fact he was being held at gunpoint.

"SHUT UP OR I WILL KILL YOU SOONER…" the penguin yelled.

Suddenly, the door burst open and EPF officials ran at the penguin.

The penguin fired his gun at them but they avoided the shots and got to him before he could shoot the fifth bullet.

"GET DOWN." yelled one. Rico read his name on his badge which appeared as "Emrys". He was an EPF official and was pinning the penguin to the ground.

Another official that had the words "Jam" on his badge grabbed some cuffs. "You're going to the prison facility," she cuffed him and locked the cuffs. "NELSON, TAKE THIS GUY TO THE BIG HOUSE."

Another official that Rico found to be "Nelson" grabbed the penguin and took him out of the room.

"I apologize for that," said Emrys. "He escaped before we could cuff him the first time."

"That's…that's okay…" Rico said.

"Alright, it's time to discharge you," Jam said. She grabbed some cuffs and Rico got out of bed. She cuffed him and Emrys took him downstairs to the receptionist.

"Alright, so you're headed back to the big-house, eh?" said the receptionist who had the name 'Maddie' on her nametag. "Let me just adjust these discharge files…"

"I, uh…" Rico said.

"Rico1206…alright, you've been discharged and signed out of the hospital…" Maddie said.

"Thanks…" Rico gave a faint smile that made no sense whatsoever.

Emrys took Rico to a bench and he sat there for a second as Jam and Emrys talked about something important briefly.

In the meanwhile, Rico spotted the penguins that he had heard in the room next door upstairs. They suddenly spotted him and their eyes got huge.

"THERE YOU ARE!" yelled the older one who was a _boy. _He ran up to him with his younger sister. "YOU KILLED OUR PARENTS!"

"K-k-killed?" asked his sister. "I…I thought…they…w-went to h-h-help mother-…" she broke down in sobs and tears when she learned the truth.

"No, I mean…!" the older penguin stuttered.

Rico continued to feel terrible. He started to wonder if he'd ever be able to live with himself after this. His thoughts were short lived as Emrys and Jam had to bring him back to the prison facility.

As he left, he continued to have the image in his mind of the penguins that had lost their parents to the Killer. And he felt guilty even though he was innocent. The images haunted him and wherever he went, he saw those images in his mind. It was going to stay with him forever.

And that was the reason Rico decided maybe he deserved what he was getting as his sentence.


	11. Goons Aren't Gone

Club Penguin: EPF: NOTIO: Part 3:

The End of the Killer:

Chapter 11:

_11 – yes – 11 chapters…amazing. This may be (as I haven't checked) my longest story yet!_

_Anyhow, onto the overview…in the previous chapter, Rico had spoken to his crew and told them that he faked the black out (which taught you that he's a good actor) and that they needed to prove him innocent…immediately. They headed out to the Killer's lair while Henry jumped down and spoke with Rico. After they finished speaking, Rico went to bed. He awoke the next morning after a night of nightmares and then had his heart broken to the sounds of upset kids in the next room that were reacting to their dying parents. Then another random kid came into Rico's room with guns and was making an attempt to strangle him and then shoot him. He was arrested before he could shoot Rico by the EPF officials and then they took Rico back to the prison facility, only after the haunting scene of the two kids entered his brain when he met them in the waiting room._

The haunting image continued to fill Rico's brain as he entered his cell again. He couldn't get it out of his mind. He hadn't broken the hearts of those penguins; the Killer did, yet, he was still responsible.

_It won't be that way for long,_ Rico thought. _I know they'll get here soon. _Rico was confident that his team would return to the prison facility soon. They'd prove him innocent. They'd make everyone look stupid. Then he'd do two things he wanted to do. I said one earlier, eh? Well make that two important things, plus a few others.

"Alright, you're scheduled for 4:00 (PM) Penguin Standard Time…" the guard informed him, looking at the schedule. "Make sure you have your goodbyes said by then…"

_Oh yes, I'll have my goodbyes done before then…_Rico thought while just smiling at the guard. _They won't be to my friends; they'll be to the guards when I leave this prison… _He kept smiling evilly. He knew he'd make it out alive. However, he had no idea what was going on with his team at that very moment…

_Meanwhile with the others…_

"This isn't going to turn out like the last time we had to prove boss innocent, is it?" Jet Pack Guy asked the others. He was referring to the last time, several months ago, when a cave collapsed as they were looking for evidence. "Because if it does, I'm not staying here. Getting shot was bad enough, and I'm not going to trust any 'safe places' because, as I learned last time, desks can have bombs too!"

"Hey, that was your choice to hide under that desk…" Dot said. "And then it exploded…"

"Don't worry, Jet Pack Guy, I'll save you if there's an explosion…" Rookie joked.

"Like I'd need your help…" JPG rolled his eyes under his sunglasses. "You couldn't save a fish."

"Yeah, well, good for me…" Rookie rolled his eyes under his red sunglasses.

"Alright, are we still searching for evidence?" asked Barista. "Do we have all of it?"

"Yes, I believe so," Dot said.

But of course, something just HAD to go askew, because that's how everything in this story went. You have a good moment that is shining bright like a light bulb and then you have a moment where something goes askew – like Rookie drops the light bulb and lies and says 'I thought it was an Insta-Bulb!'.

"I don't think you're getting away with that," said a goon.

Now, you're probably thinking – didn't the EPF take care of the goons or something? Well, did I ever fully say they did? Nope. So we now have goons running amok around the island trying to finish Frost's work.

"What – what the?!" Rookie yelled. He saw a goon running at him and punched him. The goon's beak started bleeding.

"HA…" said another goon. This goon looked different – he had a giant coat on with weapons in his pocket and everything – similar to what the Killer had worn, only different.

As the others continued to fight off goons, one was able to get away with the evidence they had.

"Aaaaah, Barista, grab the evidence!" JPG yelled, punching a goon several times.

"I…" Barista said trying to fight off another goon. He suddenly got punched in the face. "Urgh, I'm tryin'…he…"

The goon reached the goon wearing the coat that was standing up on a hidden ledge in the cave/lair.

"Thuh-ank…you…" said the goon. He grabbed the evidence and started running.

"AAAAAH GET HIM." Rookie yelled. He kicked several goons…well…he kicked them and started running after the bigger goon who had jumped off the ledge and started running out of the cave.

"On my way," JPG said turning on his jet pack and heading towards the goon.

"Oh fish," Barista said, "I guess I'm coming." He helped Dot fend off her goons and once they were all dead they headed out, leaving a pile of dead goons on the ground to rot…uhh…gross.

"Get him…!" yelled Rookie.

"GET BACK HERE, YOU…" Jet Pack Guy shouted as he flew in front of the goon. The goon had nowhere to turn. He was surrounded by the four.

"Ha," the goon said.

"Is that, perhaps, all you say?" Barista said.

The goon threw the evidence file back into the lair. The agents made a run for it. Barista stayed behind briefly as the goon pulled out a remote.

"Wait, what about…?!"

"We'll get him later, our top priority is saving boss…!" JPG yelled, running into the cave. Barista started running with them.

A helicopter, the same that had taken Rookie away in the cage when he had been captured (in part one), came out of the sky with a rope attached. The goon hopped onto it.

"HA…" he yelled for the third time. He pressed a button on his remote.

Suddenly, the cave EXPLODED with all of the agents inside. The cave collapsed in the explosion and flames erupted. It looked like it had been hit by an atom bomb. The goon, knowing no one could survive that, laughed and the helicopter flew away off of the island to new lands that would maybe never be discovered that we know as 'the ocean'.

_Since there's no better way to end a chapter then a cliffhanger, we have to take you back to about thirty seconds earlier when they re-entered the cave to when to explosion happened!_

"There it is," JPG made a dive for the file of evidence. He grabbed it.

"I swear the goon knows nothing other than 'ha'…" Rookie said.

"Whatever, we have to go save…" Barista said.

"Come on…" Dot cut him off. "Now let's…"

That was when the cave erupted with the thunder and the flames. Parts of the cave collapsed. The thunder boomed and scared the agents to death. Flames erupted and burned the snow faster than rain drops falling to earth.

"Aaaaaahh…." Rookie said. He was surrounded by flames completely. He knew he was probably the only to survive. Suddenly, he spotted Jet Pack Guy standing close to him, also surrounded by flames. Cave was about to collapse on him. Rookie made a daring move.

He dove through the flames, not even caring about the burns, and shoved him through the flames onto an area that wasn't filled with fire.

"Rookie…" JPG looked at Rookie with a surprised look on his face. Rookie was searching for the others and was barely paying attention. "Rookie…you…you…" He had no words. "After what I said earlier…you still…you still saved me?"

Rookie stopped looking and looked down at Jet Pack Guy. "I don't care about that, Jet Pack Guy. I am always there for you and the others…now help me find the others before…!"

"Guysss!" Barista shouted. He dived-bombed toward the two and shoved them out of the way. A huge part of the cave, engulfed with flames, collapsed onto him. More flames erupted and one could only imagine what was going on beneath the collapsed section.

"Barista…!" Rookie yelled as he saw blood trail from underneath the area.

"Quick, help me left this…!" JPG said. They both lifted it and paid no attention to the burns that were left on their flippers.

"No…!" Rookie yelled.

He closed his eyes and turned around. He didn't want to see what he had just seen. The body of Barista – the hero – engulfed in flames…and that meant one thing – he was dead.

_Sorry that this was such a short chapter. I couldn't think of a way to stretch it out._


	12. Quick, We Must Examine

Club Penguin: EPF: NOTIO: Part 3:

The End of the Killer:

Chapter 12 *dun dun dun*:

_Well, in the uh…previous chapter…we had sort of a heartbreaking moment. We were briefly with Rico but while we were there we saw his thoughts and then it turned to his team. They were done gathering evidence when goons erupted into the cave and started attacking them. One got away with the evidence, who gave it to the 'Chief Goon' and the 'Chief Goon' started to run away with it. After all the goons had been killed, they ran after the 'Chief Goon' and he threw it back into the cave. When they ran after it, he grabbed hold of the ladder of his helicopter and used his mighty control thing to cause the cave to explode. They were all inside and they were engulfed with flames. Rookie saved Jet Pack Guy but they were both saved by Barista who died at the end of the chapter. _

Rookie and Jet Pack Guy had their eyes shut. Flames continued to erupt around them. They had just witnessed the death of their good friend, Barista. What was Rico going to do now? Attend the funeral? He would, of course, if he would BE PROVEN INNOCENT BY HIS…

"Guys!" Dot yelled. They had totally forgotten about her. She was near the exit.

"DOT…YOU'RE ALIVE…I mean, you're alive!" Rookie said, calming himself.

"Barista is dead! We have to take his body!" JPG yelled.

"We have to get going, there's not much time left!" Dot yelled.

"But we can't just leave his…"

"Jet Pack Guy, it is okay if we do. He would want us to go save chief. He wouldn't care if we left him here…" Dot yelled.

Jet Pack Guy looked at the body of Barista which was still engulfed in flames. He looked back up at Dot. "Okay…" he said. "How do we get across the flames?!"

Dot pulled out a small gadget. It was blue, long and rubber looking. She hooked it up to a pump and turned it on. It sprayed water out onto the flames that were separating them.

"Good job, Dot…" Rookie said.

"It can't put out all the flames, so before there are more, get the hell over here!" Dot yelled.

"Right…" JPG yelled back. They both waddled and just barely dodged some of the cave parts.

"Let's go!" Rookie said. "Do you have the evidence?"

"Yes, I do…" Dot said. They exited the cave.

Jet Pack Guy pulled out his radio. "I need the fire crew up here on the Tallest Mountain – now! This isn't a trick; this is EPF agent Jet Pack Guy of Squad No. 1. Please get up here right now. This is an emergency…!" He put it back in and they headed towards the end of the mountain.

As they went through the forest, Rookie followed the tire tracks of the ambulance that they still had no idea on how it got up there. He went along with them like a 5-year old would do.

"Rookie…what're you…?"

"Sorry, it's fun…" Rookie interrupted Jet Pack Guy.

"Alright, let's stay focused." JPG replied. The waddle to the edge of the mountain was only fifteen-minutes long. But, as usual, something just HAD to go askew!

"Great…" Rookie said when he reached the end of the mountain. "Where's the grapple?"

"Well now we're stranded up here…" Dot said.

"No we're not…" JPG said pointing to his back.

"OH YEAH…DUH…" Rookie said. "I KNEW THAT." He leaned over to Dot. "What're we looking at again?" he whispered.

"I'll fly down, grab the grapple gadget, launch it back up for you two to climb down and then we'll…"

"No, you just fly down and give the evidence to the facility, we'll wait for help." Dot interrupted.

"A-a-are you sure?" Jet Pack Guy asked.

"We don't have much time," Dot stated. "We can wait. We don't all need to be there for it…"

"Yeah, go on, Jet Pack Guy, we'll wait…" Rookie added.

"Alright…" he said as Dot pulled out the evidence file. She handed it to him as he turned on his jetpack. "I'll see you soon…"

_Meanwhile at the prison facility…_

3:50PM. 10 minutes left. Rico had no idea where the others were but he still had some high hopes for them. He was sitting outside of the room where they had the 'death penalty'. There was a sign on the door that read 'DEATH IN PROGRESS…DO NOT DISTURB'.

"That's stupid…" Rico said out loud.

"What…what is?!" asked the guard. He had been continuously with the same guard. It was weird.

"Hey, first off – why do you keep following me around…are – are you like a parole officer or something or what because wherever I am, you seem to be…" Rico looked at the guard.

"No, I'm the guard of your cell…" he said.

"They have guards for cells? Wow, prison here is really complex!" Rico said. "I mean, it wasn't this complex last time I was here…"

"Whatever," the guard said.

"Anyhow…who puts 'death in progress; do not disturb' on a sign? That's horrid to look at…" Rico asked.

"Well, I don't know. I'm just a guard." The guard responded.

"Whatever," Rico said. He tapped the table with his flippers lightly and quickly. He was waiting for the others to arrive. The time grew closer and Rico's hopes kept dropping. Eventually, the time came… 4:00. His heart started racing.

He thought about faking another black out but he couldn't. His heart was beating too much to have it fakely stop. He started panicking and tried stalling.

"Eh, uh, how about we reschedule this to about…"

"Why? So you can escape? Hell no…" the penguin in charge of 'death row penalizing' said.

Rico's heart continued to race.

"Alright, let's strap you into the electric chair…" the penguin in charge said. His name was 'Pat'. "Pat" started gathering up equipment.

"Whatever you say, Pat…" Rico said making an attempt to stall.

"Why'd you call me by my name?" Pat turned around and asked.

"Because I'm loyal." Rico said.

"Shut the hell up," Pat replied, turning back to his work.

"Oooh, someone's moody today, eh?"

Pat turned back around. "Seriously, shut up. We need to get this over with so I can go home…"

"Go home? Oh, little Pat wants go home, eh?"

"What the hell are you doing?" Pat asked with an angry look on his face.

"Pat, I need to speak to you in the hall," an official said.

"Uh, uh uh…I didn't…I don't have anger…what…" Pat went into the hall with the official.

Rico looked up at the ceiling. He was bored and tired. He hoped that there'd be some sort of miracle that'd let him live like the chair breaking or something. He had to face the facts – they weren't coming. They probably got caught up on the Tallest Mountain.

The official came into the room. He came up to Rico and uncuffed him.

"Alright, Rico, it appears there is someone here for you – they have some 'evidence' and I'm not sure how reliable it is, but if it is reliable, we'll cross that bridge when we get there…" the official took him to the 'meet 'n' greet' room.

There, Rico saw Jet Pack Guy holding a file of evidence. Rico ran up to him.

"Jet Pack Guy, you're here…" he said quietly. "Is this evidence good enough?"

"Yes, I'm sure of it. We found it ironically sitting in the middle of the room…" JPG said with a grin on his face.

"Alright, let's get the evidence examiner in here," the official said.

Now you're probably thinking – why is this happening so quickly? Don't you have to send it away to the evidence examiner person in real life? Well here on Club Penguin, or in my imagination, for that matter, everything can go quickly. Court trials are quick. Evidence examining is quick. Coroner/medical examining is quick. Everything is quick.

"Alright, but if it isn't very relevant nothing is going to happen," the evidence examiner looked at the file. There was a lot in it from the poem that had the huge question mark on it from in an earlier part of this story to a copy of the note he wrote to the EPF.

"All fake," the evidence examiner stated. He turned back around and the official went to cuff Rico.

"WHAT? HOW IS THAT FAKE? WHAT'RE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!" yelled Jet Pack Guy.

"If you do not calm down, you will be asked to leave," said an official. Another official started taking Rico to his cell.

Suddenly, Dot and Rookie came piling through a bunch of officers. They were standing in one clump so they had to just pile through them. They apologized as they moved them all out of the way.

"SORRY WE ARE LATE," Rookie yelled.

"Rookie, we're not late," Dot said.

Rico knew the voices immediately and turned his head back to them. "Dot, Rookie – what're you…"

"We have more evidence and this time it isn't going to be fake," Rookie said. He was running so fast his propellor cap flew off. "Aaaah," he said as he went back to grab it.

The evidence examiner turned back around to examine it. Dot had a large device with her that looked quiet heavy.

"What's this?" asked the evidence examiner.

"Security camera," Dot explained trying to catch her breath. "Watch it. It shows everything…"

"FROM THE CAPTURE TO THE…" Rookie said running back.

"Sssssshhhh!" yelled the official.

"Sorry!" he yelled. They all gathered around the camera and watched the tape. It showed Frost capturing penguins. Dot, Rookie, Barista, Jet Pack Guy, the fire crew, all the others were shown. It showed the murder of Frost by Rico in self-defense. It showed him returning with the weapons from the squad's office. It showed everything.

"How do we know that's not you?" asked the official to Rico.

"I'm not in two places at once…" Rico said.

"Alright," the evidence examiner said. "You've been saved this time, Rico. It's real. You are no longer guilty of all of those whatever you call 'ems."

"YESSSS…" Rookie cheered.

"Well, that was rather…easy…" Jet Pack Guy said silently cheering.

The official un-cuffed Rico. "Alright, you're free to go."

"Great," Rico said. "And now I will file a lawsuit against the prison facility for previous unexplained reasons,"

"I've gotta get going for now," the evidence examiner said. "Bye…." He went into another room.

"Whatever, press charges, file lawsuits – whatever you want, just get out of here, please…" Pat said.

"Alright," Rico said.

"We apologize for false accusations of murder, capturization and all that. We are sure it won't happen again…" the official said.

"Yeah, well, that's what you all said last time, and it didn't happen…" Rico said.

"Whatever, you're free to go…" the official replied.

"No he's not," said a familiar voice. Coming around the corner was a familiar face – Rock. He was Rico's previous friend. The guy who framed it. Rico turned to look. Rock was coming at him quickly. As he headed for him he pulled out a huge knife. The next thing happened so quickly that Rico couldn't stop it from happening – no one could! Rock shoved the knife so far into Rico's chest that he blacked out – for real this time.

_Oh no, Mr. Bill! Rock just stabbed Rico. Alright, well, sorry for another short chapter. I hope the next will be longer but if it isn't...err...sorry...they tend to get shorter near the end as the suspense builds *dun dun dun*!_


	13. Just Barely Holdin' On

Club Penguin: EPF: NOTIO: Part 3:

The End of the Killer:

Chapter 13 *dun dun dun*:

**I apologize that this chapter is sort of late. By late, I mean, it was posted a little after the normal time I post things on weekdays. I didn't have it fully written because I had a screwed up schedule this weekend and I try to write things a day in advance. I failed. :3**

_Well, we're here…and it's chapter thirteen. In the last chapter, the agents had to prove Rico was innocent. They had to leave Barista's body on the mountain. They called up the fire crew to put out the flames and headed for the edge of the mountain. When they reached the edge, however, they ran into a problem – the grapple they had used to get up disappeared. Rookie and Dot told Jet Pack Guy to fly down without them and he did. When he shoved the evidence to the examiner in a fast process, the examiner said it was all fake. However, Dot had a security camera and that proved everything. It proved Rico innocent and the chapter ended with Rock coming at Rico and stabbing him in the chest…_

_Beep…beep…beep. _Doctors were standing by and monitoring the movement of Rico's heart monitor. He was alive but still knocked out. The knife had been driven very close to his heart and hit something. They couldn't tell what. His heart monitor kept going up and once in a while would have a long line of nothing. The doctors would make an attempt to save him and he would return. He had bled a lot from the stab wound.

He had also had the knife driven into an area that he had receive 'oxygen' or in this case, air, from – and that meant he needed air from an air thing until it was 'repaired' or in this case, surgically fixed.

"Whenever he wakes up," said a doctor. "We will inform him on the surgery, but for now, I'll summon the others and we need to go look at the x-rays…"

He waddled towards the door and opened it, summoning the others back in. As they entered, he and the other doctors left. Now, leaving a patient who is blacked out on the risk of death is very dangerous, wouldn't you think? But here on Club Penguin, on in other words – Rico's imagination – it's different. You see, they need to do tests and can't bring them into the room of the patient due to medical tool interference. That doesn't make much sense, does it? No. So let me shut up and let's get back to the story…

Rookie, Jet Pack Guy and Dot waddled up to Rico's bedside. They paid close attention to the heart monitor as it slowly beeped.

"He's holdin' on…" Jet Pack Guy said.

Rookie stood by the heart monitor closer than any of them. "We can't lose commander,"

"I know, but it's going to happen sometime…" JPG said.

"I guess we just…hope for the best, eh?" Dot said putting high hopes on.

"Yeah," Jet Pack Guy looked down at Rico. He wondered what was going on, if anything was, in his 'dead' head.

"You worried?" Dot looked up at Jet Pack Guy.

"No," Jet Pack Guy replied. He shrugged his shoulders. "He's survived things like this before, why can't he do it again?"

"This was closer than any of the others…this was at his heart," Rookie said. It appeared as if Rookie believed Rico was indeed going to be dead soon.

"Rookie, why are you acting so negative?" Dot looked up at him.

"Don't you get it? Pizza Chef, Barista, Gary, Boom – all of these agents – they're dying. He could be next…something is going on here. It's like…the League of Shadows…they're trying to destroy the EPF!"

"Rookie, there's nothing you should worry about…" Jet Pack Guy said. "Frost was an agent…he was out to kill us."

"He _was _out to kill us. So is Herbert. So is the Proto-Bot. They're all comin' for us. Rico may be next. We'll know sooner or later…" He swallowed hard.

"Look," Dot said. "Rookie, can you please stop with the negativity? Everything will be just fine, okay?"

"Fine…" Rookie said. He came to Rico's bedside.

Rico's eyes eventually opened after a few minutes. They opened slowly and his heart monitor went a little faster.

"Hey, doctor, he's back," Rookie said for the second time in history.

The doctors came into the room and shoved the others out (harshly). They needed to talk to Rico for a second without the others in.

"Rico, you're back," one of the doctor said.

Rico's eyes looked around. "I – I'm in the hospital…aren't I?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so…" one of the doctors said.

"We ran some tests on you while you were knocked out. That stab wound ran pretty close to your heart and hit a weak spot of your chest where blood is carried out of the heart," another doctor said.

"What're you trying to tell me?" Rico asked in a raspy voice. He started coughing. Blood was coming out, not air.

The doctor tapped another doctor and then pointed to the blood. The other doctor let out a huge sigh.

"I'm Dr. Fishgerald. I am the specialist who is taking care of you the most, and it appears that your blood coughing is not very common." Dr. Fishgerald informed.

"Again, what're you…" Rico briefly coughed as a doctor gave him a giant bucket to cough in. "What – what're you trying to tell me? Out with it…"

"Well it appears that the area that you were stabbed was in a bad spot, a weak spot as we said before. That being said, your heart doesn't have a very good chance of carrying blood to the parts needed. It's going loosely around your body, which is why you're coughing up blood. You're losing a bit of blood," Dr. Fishgerald replied. "And because of all of that, the unfortunate chances that you will survive from this are…rather slim…"

Rico rolled his eyes and let out a huge sigh. "I guess it's time,"

"There's a small chance that the blood could go into the vein that it was being carried through but the chances of that are small, and you may be dead before it. However, if we do get that chance, you know, that is our window of opportunity. We can repair it and save you if that happens. But we need to keep you alive because there is an even smaller chance that if you die we can bring you back. That means we need to keep you alive," Dr. Fishgerald explained.

"Dr. Fishgerald, I need to speak to you privately," said a nurse.

"Rico, I'll let your friends back in here for a few seconds as I talk to nurse Waddles." He went to the door, opened it and the doctors left with the nurse.

"Boss, you're back!" JPG exclaimed.

"Yes, but…" Rico coughed out more blood. "I have no idea how long I'll be…"

The agents, previously waddling up to his bedside, stopped short.

"Wait, what?!" Rookie said with his eyes wide. He looked at the others with an 'I-Told-Ya-So' look.

"The doctors…they've been a good help…but they told me my chances are slim…" Rico explained.

"No…no they're not…you…you can…" Rookie started blubbering. "I…I…I didn't…stop playin' with…I didn't mean it…stop…this…this is a…j-j-joke…" He stuttered.

"This isn't a joke…" Rico said calmly.

"No…" Rookie said. "No…please, survive…!"

"Guys…" Rico said. "Can I speak to each and every one of you individually…one at a time…before I go? Like now?"

"Uh…sure…" JPG said.

"M…me first?!" Rookie volunteered.

"Yes…" Rico said.

JPG nodded and he left the room with Dot.

"Rookie," Rico said.

"I'M SORRY…I SAID YOU WERE GOING TO DIE….I…" he started tearing.

"No, it's not your fault…"

Rookie closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "What…what do you want to tell me?"

"Rookie, for starters, you may not have always been the sharpest knife in the drawer…" Rico began. "But you've shown some improvement,"

"You mean it?" Rookie asked.

"Yes. I mean, letting Herbert loose – hey, I didn't care. But you made it to our squad – the best in the EPF. You became communication lead and helped prove me innocent twice. You helped me solve the Killer case, you took a bullet for me, you helped us discover the Penguin Special Agency, you did all of these things like stopping the Proto-Bot's revenge, and you should be proud. I'm proud of you Rookie and when I'm long gone, I just want you to know…"

"Yes, commander?" Rookie asked.

"I've been reporting all of your duties to the Director and she's been telling me that you should be expecting a promotion very soon…just keep your eyes peeled."

Rookie's eyes widened. "A promotion? Gee…thanks!"

"Now, can you please bring me Jet Pack Guy?" Rico asked.

"Sure…" Rookie ran out of the room.

Jet Pack Guy re-entered and waddled up to Rico's bedside. "Boss,"

"Jet Pack Guy," Rico began. "What you did on the Tallest Mountain was the bravest thing I've ever seen…"

"Boss, as I said before, it's all in a day's work for an…"

"No, it's not…" Rico said. "I don't see other agents from lower squads running out to get shot to save their boss. You saw it. You did it. You saved my life. And you lived to tell about it. That is surely the bravest thing I've ever seen from you,"

Jet Pack Guy shrugged his shoulders. "Thanks boss…"

"More importantly, thank you. Over the past few years you've been there for me when I needed it…"

"I'm just doin' my job,"

"Yes, but you've helped me through everything – the revenge of the Proto-Bot, the Killer's wrath, saving me from death penalty twice," Rico said. "You've gone above and beyond what is expected. I hope that you continue that for many more years to come."

"Hey, if that's what you want me to do, I'm all for it…" Jet Pack Guy grinned.

"I have reported your life saving acts to the Director and she has something coming for you soon, and I can't tell you much now but it'll be great,"

"You didn't need to…"

"You didn't need to save me, but you did. That's why you are getting this reward." Rico said.

"Thanks boss…"

"No, thank you."

Jet Pack Guy stared at Rico for a second. He realized what a great boss he had. He couldn't believe that anyone could be this nice in the world – in fact, no one could be nicer. He finally broke the silence by saying, "I suppose you want me to go get Dot, eh?"

"Yes, and when she's done, I'd like you all back in here…" Rico shooed him off as he got Dot.

She entered and closed the door tightly behind her.

"Rico…" she said running up to him. "I…"

"Dot," he interrupted briefly. "I…I was waiting for this to blow over, hoping to have a good ending. Of course, as you can see, I'm here in a hospital bed with very little time left."

She sighed.

"One thing I would like to say first…go to court. Testify. Speak out. Do something. But him behind bars. No…kill him! He doesn't deserve to be here…"

"Rock…he's dead…" Dot said. "After he stabbed you he was taken immediately to the death penalty room…"

"No trial?" Rico smiled evilly.

"Nope." Dot said. "They killed him and they rushed you here. We were worried you had died…"

Rico felt terrible. "Whatever happens, I'd like you to be in charge of the squad," Rico said.

"In…in charge?" she looked at him like he was white with a black muzzle. "That's…that's…"

"Yes, you are in charge…" he nodded.

"But…but…what about Jet Pack Guy? I thought he was…wouldn't…wouldn't they get suspicious…?"

"Yes, but before I die, I think it's time we reveal to them what's going on." He said. "Just so they have a feel of what's been going on these past few months…"

"But…" she said.

"Look, Dot, we can't keep this secret forever. We have to reveal it sometime. At my death bed, hell, at my grave – anywhere is where we need to. And here is where we are…"

She sighed. "Okay, I trust you…"

"Please go get the…"

His words were interrupted by a make out scene that I'm not going to get too descriptive of. However, it lasted for a few minutes and when they were done, Rico felt as if he had been in heaven.

"Whoa…" he said. "What was…?"

"I…I just thought…something for the road…" Dot stuttered.

He smiled at her while closing his eyes. "Thanks…" he said.

She went to get the others.

"Guys," Rico said as they entered. "I've been uh…keeping a secret from you these past few months that I need to finally reveal to you…"

"Oh sorry, we know you've been dating Cadence…" Rookie said.

Dot looked at him with her eyes wide. He shook his head at her.

"Actually, it's someone different," he said with a pitch in his voice. "I've been going out with Dot."

"Dot?" Jet Pack Guy asked not surprised.

"Hey wait I thought we had something going…" Rookie waddled to her.

"In your dreams, Rookie. I've found my man…" she replied.

"But after he's dead…" Rookie paused.

"Rookie!" the other three yelled.

"What?!"

They all gave him stern looks.

"Anyhow," Rico said. "All I wanted to say was that she is the new leader of the squad and please…whatever you do take care of her."

"Got'cha," Rookie said.

JPG nodded. "I understand…"

"So that's why you said you needed something from the Killer? Was Dot your white head band?" Rookie asked.

"Yes…" Rico said.

"But what about the files?" JPG asked.

"I had plans for those," Rico said.

"Like what?"

"I had to enter them into the system. They had notes for Dot that you guys couldn't see…" Rico said.

"Ah, I see…" Rookie said. "With my glasses, at least…"

"Anyhow, one thing I want you all to remember," Rico said. "No matter how bad it is, just remember to never give up. Save the island. Don't quit – keep going. You guys have shown me how great you really are in these past few years. We've seen the death of Pizza Chef, Gary, Boom, all of those…"

"Actually, we saw Barista die…" Rookie said.

"And Barista, I guess…" Rico said. "But we were strong. We stayed together. We weren't torn apart. That rare occurrence when something that takes us by surprise happens, just…just remember me and keep going. Don't stop." Rico took a breath. "Because if there's anything you should learn here…it's that it's not over 'til it's over…"

"I…" JPG said. "I have high hopes for the future."

"I know that we'll be prepared…" Rookie said.

"With you in our hearts, anything is possible…" Dot smiled.

"And something I'd just like to say – is thank you. You've been a huge help to me over the past few years. We never reached our goal of saving the island and stopping the madness on it, but we did learn several things…" Rico thanked. "And I could have never done it without…"

Suddenly, the heart monitor stopped.

"Y…yyy…yyyy…." Rico couldn't get the 'ou' out.

"DOCTOR, GET THE HELL IN HERE, HE'S DYING!" Rookie yelled. He ran to the door as doctors came pouring in. The beeping stopped on the heart monitor and Rico was fading.

"Get…get out…we can't have you…" Dr. Fishgerald said. "We can't have you in here…"

The others ran out into the hall and listened in the room with their hearts racing.

"He's…he's barely there…" said one doctor.

"Rico? Can you hear me?" said another.

"He can't hear you, dingbat, he's dying!" said another doctor who had a thick Australian accent.

"Rico, just…" said Dr. Fishgerald. The beeping on the heart monitor came to a sudden stop.

"We…we tried…" said one of the doctors.

"There's…there's gotta be…" said another.

"No alternatives…" said Dr. Fishgerald. "I…I gotta…"

They could hear someone waddling towards the door. They backed away and acted like they weren't listening. The door opened and out stopped Dr. Fishgerald as well as some other doctors. He had a sad expression.

"I…" he couldn't get the words out. "I'm sorry…"

Rookie looked at him and was the first to break down into tears.

"He…he's dead…" Dr. Fishgerald said. "I…I'll…I'm sorry…"

Dot started sobbing as well. Jet Pack Guy sat there with his arms folded and staring at the others.

Dr. Fishgerald looked really sad. He and the other doctors had to go back into the room, leaving the other three outside.

"He…" Rookie said. "He's gone…"

Dot and Rookie continued to sob as Jet Pack Guy just stood there. Their squad leader, a penguin who survived everything had died. He had actually died. They couldn't believe it. They continued to cry and they watched Jet Pack Guy stay strong. He seemed fine.

"He's gone forever," Rookie said.

"I know…" Dot said through her tears. "He was the first I ever loved…"

The crying continued for another few minutes. They'd stop and then continue. It was a sad, sad moment. It was so sad that for the first time in history Dot swore she saw a tear, smaller than normal but still a tear, roll down Jet Pack Guy's face. Truly, this was the darkest day they'd seen and were ever going to see. Rico1206, a long time legend, had died.

_Indeed he is dead. But there's more to this story. Stay tuned._


	14. Deja Gloom

Club Penguin: EPF: NOTIO: Part 3:

The End of the Killer:

Chapter 14:

_**I APOLOGIZE FOR SUCH A LONG DELAY! I USUALLY UPDATE ONCE A DAY BUT I WASN'T ONLINE YESTERDAY DUE TO MY BOAT-LOAD OF HOMEWORK. I APOLOGIZE FOR THAT… :3**_

_In the devastating chapter 13 we saw the agents with total sadness as they knew Rico was on the verge of death (especially Rookie who freaked out…). Rico and Dot had to reveal to the others they were dating and Rico had to talk to them all one by one. He also told them to keep going and keep being successful. At the end of the chapter…Rico died. _

Dot was sitting in her igloo with the others. It was devastating. Their leader, Rico1206, the island's legendary agent who had changed the lives of everyone, was dead. All because of a stupid mineral-named penguin.

"I…it…it was my fault…" Rookie said through his tears.

"No, Rookie, it wasn't your fault…" Jet Pack Guy said, remaining calm.

"It had to of been…" Rookie stuttered. "I said it was going to happen…I take that back…"

Rookie continued to think it was his fault. The reassurance of the others did nothing but make him feel even worse.

"The Killer is dead…Rock is dead…" Jet Pack Guy said looking over his notes of "wanted" penguins and polar bears. "That leaves only two penguins left with the expert thief Henry at the top!" He smiled.

"All you care about is work?!" Rookie looked at Jet Pack Guy like he was an elephant with three ears. "Don't you care that our commander is dead?!"

"I know he's dead," Jet Pack Guy closed his eyes. "But…like I've said in the past…we need to move on…"

"Move on?" Dot looked at him. "How do I move on from the death of my boyfriend?"

"We have to act like he was…a normal penguin, or a chef or a barista, or anyone…just another agent, for that matter. Move on. We can't continue to get upset over it, it's not going to work! We need to focus on what's important – and that's our life…" Jet Pack Guy informed.

Rookie sniffled a bit and then stopped his tears. "I…I think…"

"Jet Pack Guy…" Dot had stopped crying. "You might be right – but you don't show any emotion – it's like you didn't care…and why is that?"

"I got over it. Yes, he was my best friend, and yes he was our boss…but we have to move on and stop dragging our flippers…"

Dot let out a huge sigh. "Fine…" she said.

Silence overcome the igloo for the next few minutes, with the exception of some occasional sounds from the pencil writing on the notepad in Jet Pack Guy's flipper.

"I'm hungry," Rookie finally broke the silence. He got out of his spot on the couch to go get something from the fridge. "Dot you have nothing good in here…"

"Why is that, you think? Is it because I haven't been home for the past month, you think?" she said, frustrated.

"Sorry…" he said and came and sat back down.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

"Eh, watch it be the coroners," Dot got up to go open the door. She opened it.

"Howdy," it was PH. PH, if you didn't know, was the "Puffle Handler" of the elite puffles in the EPF. She was on Squad No. 1 and was the lead of the 'puffle handler' class.

"PH!" she ran up to PH and hugged her.

"Hi Dot…" she said. "I uh, heard about Rico…"

PH and Dot went over to the couch area with the other two and they sat down.

"Well," Dot said. "We've had a long ride…"

"Very long month…" Jet Pack Guy added.

"Where have you been? Why weren't you captured?" asked Rookie.

"I was away from the island…" PH explained. "I had been on the Migrator as a uh…stowaway…" she admitted.

"Wait, Rockhopper's back?" Rookie asked in confusion.

"Yes, he just arrived…" PH noted. "I heard about everything and was hoping you were all okay. I heard we lost Barista and Pizza Chef. Add Rico to that and then add that to Gary and we've lost all of this squad's acquaintances with the exception of the Director…"

"We're just going downhill…" Jet Pack Guy said.

"It's sad to hear this but we must mo…"

Suddenly, there was another knock at the door.

"Let's not watch it be the coroners," Rookie said.

Dot rolled her eyes as she headed towards the door. She got there and opened it. Her eyes got wide. She summoned the others and they came.

"D…Dot…?" asked the penguin in the doorway.

"W – who are you?!" Dot said looking at the familiar penguin.

"It's…it's me…R – Rico…" Rico asked. It was indeed him.

"You're – you're not Rico…" she said.

"No, just…I am…"

"What lie is going to come out of your mouth?" Dot said.

Rico's eyes lit up. He had heard that before by her.

"I am Rico…I…I can prove it to you!"

"You're not Rico," Rookie said. "He's dead."

"I am Rico! I can prove it!" He looked just like him. He was him.

"Hmm…" Jet Pack Guy said. "Why would you return to life is you died?"

"Because!" Rico said. "They…they had the window of opportunity when I died. They had that rare chance to save me – they did it!"

"Hmm, how legit is this?" JPG turned to the others.

"I'm sorry…" Dot said. "But Rico is dead…I don't know who you are, but whoever the hell you are, get off of my property and stop playing these games…"

"No…wait, Dot, seriously, I…" he yelled as she shut the door. "I'm…" He sighed. "I knew it. I should've just killed myself like I had intended to…" he slowly waddled to his street and his igloo.

It took him five minutes, but he made it. As he headed towards his igloo, he remembered a similar scenario that had occurred just a month earlier. His team didn't think he was Rico because he had quit the EPF. They were acting just like they were a month earlier. Except this time it was death that had taken him, not the fact that he had quit. He entered the empty igloo and turned on the lights hoping not to find a gunman or a penguin with a knife like he had before. He saw the emptiness of the igloo.

"Henry did a good job," Rico said looking at the newly added ice. The igloo looked like it used to. It was still empty.

Rico went to sit on the floor. He had no idea what to do now.

"Great," Rico looked up at the ceiling. "What now?"

"I'll tell you what's next," said a voice. The voice dropped down from the ceiling. It was Henry without a doubt.

"Henry? You believe I'm alive?" Rico asked.

"Of course I do," Henry said. "I saw them revive you! And I'm here, gladly to tell you, that I have everything you need to bring them back into reality,"

"You do….?" Rico looked at him.

"Yes," Henry gave him a file that was quite bumpy. It had stuff in it as well as a piece of paper.

"What…what now?" Rico asked.

"You do what it says," Henry stated. "They'll know it's you, I promise…"

"Wait, this is a camera," Rico pulled out something from inside of it.

"Yes. I got the video of them reviving you…"

Rico's eyes widened. "Geez, do you just stalk me?!"

"Uh," Henry said. "I'm sorry, I must run…" and with that he disappeared.

_Just a few minutes later…_

"If you give me…" Rico took a breath. "Five minutes – that's all. I can prove to you that I'm alive…" Rico was at Dot's door. The others were inside.

"Let him in," Jet Pack Guy said.

"Thank you…" Rico said as Dot opened the door for him. He entered and sat down at the couch area.

"If you open fire on us," Rookie said. "I have my taser…"

"I'm sure you do," Rico said as he sat down. He pulled out the camera.

"Why do we all have cameras for evidence?" Jet Pack Guy asked.

"I don't know, maybe there's evidence of why on a camera," Rookie said.

"Shut up," PH replied.

Dot scooted towards Rico and they all watched the video. It was the doctor's reviving him and him waking up and all of that.

"Who recorded this?" Dot looked at Rico. He froze.

"Uh, security camera, that's what…" he lied.

"You stole it?" Rookie said.

"No, they uh…they said I could uh, keep it to prove myself…" Rico lied.

It was enough for them, the lies and the truth. They accepted the evidence.

"So wait, you're back…?" PH asked.

"Yes, they revived me with that window of opportunity. Only two penguins, now three, have survived when that has happened before when they were dead. I'm really lucky," Rico explained.

"Well," Rookie said. He broke down into happiness. "I…I can't believe you're back…"

"Boss," Jet Pack Guy said. "Not a lot has happened since you were gone!"

"I figured…" Rico said trailing off the sentence. "We need to get a day of break,"

"So no work tomorrow?" Rookie asked.

"I don't think there will be work for a while, period. The Director has stated that the EPF needs to repair the Command Room and all missions are offline and that all agents should not return to work until notified," Jet Pack Guy informed.

"Great," PH said. "Now I can train with the puffles,"

"Interesting," Dot said. "Now I can spend more time with my…" she leaned onto Rico. He smiled.

"It's great to be back," Rico smiled.

"Well, instead of having a break down of tears and happiness like most penguins would when a loved one is saved, I'm going home to eat," Rookie said. "I'll see you later Dot, and congratulations, Rico, on being the third to be revived…"

"I'm going to commemorate the doctors immediately," Rico informed. "They deserve it, after all."

"I think I'm headed home, too…" PH said. "I must go train with the puffles…"

"So am I," Jet Pack Guy said. "Just to leave you two to your own…" he smiled. "Lovely stuff…"

Rico rolled his eyes as the other three waddled out the door. Dot and Rico went to go close the door behind them. As she did, she smiled.

"You're back," Dot smiled as the door closed. "I…" she started tearing up. "I never thought you would,"

"I'm not goin' anywhere for a long time," Rico said.

"You can stay here tonight," she said. "Since you don't have any furniture,"

"Thank you," he said, heading for the couch. "I can't believe I'm still here,"

She closed her eyes and smiled. "It's a good life we live,"

"The Killer may have won, but he didn't for long," Rico smiled.

"Because you're back," Dot smiled.

"He failed like Herbert and Proto-Bot and Rock and everyone else," Rico said. "Thanks…"

"For what?" Dot asked.

"For everything, y'know." Rico smiled.

"No problem," she said as she kissed him.

"Tomorrow, I need to do something that I've been planning on doing for months," Rico said blushing.

"And that is?" Dot asked.

"You'll have to wait and see…" Rico smiled.

_**So, there wasn't a cliffhanger as the issues are being resolved and we're getting to the end of the story. There are two more chapters left and that will be it. Rico is back, everyone should be happy and there is still more in store. You can expect another chapter from me tomorrow. **___


	15. Frost-Zoned

Club Penguin: EPF: NOTIO: Part 3:

The End of the Killer:

Chapter 15:

_In the previous…déjà vu-ish…awkward…chapter, Rico was discovered to be alive. In a déjà-vu moment, his squad didn't believe he was really there and thought it was a fake. Rico, feeling useless, headed back to his igloo to ponder about stuff. When he got there, Henry arose and gave him some evidence to prove he was indeed alive. When he showed it to the others, they believed him and couldn't really believe he was back. He and the others chatted for about a minute and then they left, leaving Dot and Rico by themselves. He slept at her igloo for the night and that's where we left off…_

"C'mon, Dot!" Rico hurried into the Lighthouse quickly with Dot on his trail. No, they weren't on a mission (well, Rico sort of was), but they were going to the Beacon.

"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying," Dot replied with giggles. "Geez…!"

"Sorry, we just can't be late…" Rico said waiting for her while taking a breath.

"Ah, whatever," Dot said, catching up to him.

They looked around the Lighthouse for a few. Penguins everywhere. Happy. Normal. They didn't care about the things that were disturbing the island; in fact, they didn't know about them. They played their instruments on the stage, grabbed barrels of cream soda, looked at the wonderful random things that were there…it was peaceful.

"So this is life now," Rico said, gazing around him.

"It is, isn't it?" Dot replied smiling while looking around.

"It's better than it was a few months ago," Rico said.

"You got that right," Dot smiled.

"Let's continue this conversation upstairs…" Rico headed for the stairs to the Beacon. He was waddling so quickly that Dot couldn't catch up.

"Ah, slow down," she said giggling.

"Sorry, this is important," Rico said.

"If it was important, as you say, why'd we stop to gaze around?" Dot asked, waddling quickly to keep up.

Rico stopped to think about it. "Maybe it was to get a feel of the new life we're living, or maybe it's just to take a look what life will be like…"

"Well put," she said.

Rico continued up the stairs leading to the Beacon. He was far ahead of Dot so he got up before she did.

When Dot finally got up there, her mouth and her eyes were wide open.

"Whoa…" she was amazed. "It's…it's beautiful…" she said.

I'm sure you're wondering – what the hell are they looking at? Simple. They're looking at the wonderful sunset that is happening on the island. "Sunset? But wasn't it nighttime in the last chapter?" is what you're probably thinking. Yes, it was, wasn't it? Well, we didn't focus on the small, trivial things that occurred during the day. Instead, we're here to focus on the bigger thing that Rico had planned.

The sunset on the island was beautiful. No, it wasn't just a sunset – it was a 'soda sunset'. But not just that – there were boats. Sailboats. Magnificent sailboats. They were scattered around, sailing into the sunset. The sight was beautiful and amazed many penguins. Wedding pictures, family pictures, art pictures, any type of pictures – they were all taken here around this time. Famous artists would even paint the sunset from the Beacon's view.

"It's beautiful," Dot said again, joining Rico at the guard rail by the telescope. "This is what you wanted to show me? I should've been quicker. This is the best sight I've ever seen!"

"I know," Rico said looking out into the distance. "I love it,"

"Well, so do I…" she smiled as the wind rolled through her blonde hair.

"After the hard work and scary things we've done over the past few months," Rico paused as the wind lightly rolled through his head band. "I think it's time for us to take a break, relax, y'know, that type of stuff…"

"I love it," Dot said. "I've heard about the sight and have always wanted to see what it looks like…"

"I've seen it before," Rico said again. "It's different from the pictures…meaning, it's great in penguin…"

"I'll never forget it, that's for sure…" she smiled.

They paused for a second to look at the island around them. It was ordinary, normal, you know, like usual. No chaotic Proto-Bots; no polar bears in need of liposuction. It was calm, peaceful; penguins helping others, penguins waddling their puffles, you know, that stuff.

"Are you still working with the EPF?" Dot broke the silence after a few minutes.

"Dot," Rico said. "I decided that, not matter what is going on, I am needed. I've been having…nightmares about not returning to the EPF. I have decided that I'll stay. I lead a strong team; I've changed the island. I've been shot; I've been stabbed. I jumped off the Tallest Mountain and survived; I went to heaven and back. I stopped the Proto-Bot three times; I captured a polar bear. I did the impossible – killing the Killer. I don't think it's time for me to leave, especially with Rookie on the force.." He laughed briefly.

"I agree," Dot agreed. "We need you, Rico. The EPF needs you. The Director knows that you have what is needed for the EPF. She turns to you in times of despair hoping that you'll help us get through it. You have before and you always will. You're Rico and that's what you're here for. You were sent to the island to protect it. That is what you do. You quit, thinking everything was gone, but you weren't wrong – you just…you just weren't ready."

Rico sighed. "It's great to be back," he said. "I'm sure that when the Command Room is rebuilt, everything will be under control. The Director will be ready to begin new field-ops and operations as soon as they can be done,"

"Indeed," Dot said.

"Everything is back on the straight path it should be on," Rico said. "Yet again, we saved the island. We may have lost several agents, but we'll see them soon,"

"No, Rico, _we _didn't save the island," Dot smiled. "You did. We were captured. You killed the Killer. You did it. Not 'we'."

"I can't take all of the credit," Rico said. "My squad was there when I needed it."

"Barely," Dot said. "But if you want us to have some credit, fine with me," she said as she stared at the sunset.

"So, after this, you wanna, maybe, go get some dinner at the…"

"Rico," Dot turned to Rico hoping for eye contact.

"Yes?" Rico replied, hoping for a 'yes'.

"I…I have to admit something to you…"

Rico's eyes lit up. "W-what?"

"I…" she closed her eyes and looked sad. "Remember earlier when I had confessed to you as to why the Killer was going after you?"

"Yes, yes, of course," Rico said, looking confused.

"Remember how I said I had 'become friends' with them?"

"Y…y…ye…yeeesss….?" Rico stuttered. He knew things were about to get really ugly.

"I…I'm sorry…I…I lied…"

Rico's eyes lit up majorly. "You're not their friends?!" He asked stupidly.

"No…" she said looking sad. "I…I…they…they were my friends…my…my…" she stuttered to get the word out. "My…b-b-b—boyfriends…"

Rico looked at her like she was crazy. "That's…" he paused. "That's…that's okay, we can still…"

"Rico," she said once again. "I…I don't think you understand…"

Rico knew things were going to get even worse right then and there.

"I want to be together but, I…" she said. "I don't want to be targeted for…for liking someone. Or someones." She closed eyes slowly. "It's not my fault that every agent on the force is in love with me,"

Rico stared at her. He could see why everyone loved her. She was indeed beautiful, hot, whatever you want to call her. But he was the one that she wanted to date. And she was the one that he had first loved.

"I don't…" she said. "I don't like seeing you get nearly killed by someone who likes me and if this is how it's going to be, why bother having a boyfriend…?"

"But, Dot…" Rico said. "Don't…don't let that ruin us…"

"I'm sorry," she said.

Rico knew it was true. She had a good point. He didn't really want to be killed for liking someone like her. She was indeed beautiful and he loved her like Bonnie loved Clyde (I'm not sure if Bonnie and Clyde even liked each other so if they didn't, let's just say, he loved her like penguins love pizza). He wanted to be with her. He was true she was the one and only. He didn't like seeing her upset, mad, angry. He liked her happy. But she wasn't happy. She was…sad.

"I…" Rico said. "I understand…"

"I…" Dot said. "I'm glad you do,"

Rico nodded with his eyes shut. He didn't open them for another few minutes.

"I want to be with you, I really do, but…what I don't like is seeing you sought after for liking me,"

Rico nodded. "I don't like it either…" he admitted calmly.

"I…I'm glad you…I'm glad you understand, at least…" she said with a hopeful grin. "We can…we can…still be…friends?"

There it was. The 'we can still be friends'. The thing that no boyfriend/girlfriend liked hearing from their boyfriend/girlfriend. It was something that everyone hated. Something that no one cared for. The devil must've invented it. It was made to break hearts. It was made to break Rico and Dot up.

"I'm just…" Rico said slowly. "I'm just going to head home for now,"

"Are…are you o-okay…?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm…" Rico said slowly. "I'm fine indeed." He opened his eyes.

"I'll…see you…tomorrow?" she asked.

"Yes," Rico headed for the stairs. "I'll…see you tomorrow too…"

Dot turned her attention looking back at the beautiful setting with the sailboats and the sunset. She was fascinated by it.

Rico, on the other hand, didn't care about it anymore. His heart had just been broken by the one he loved most. Dot the disguise gal, the EPF's stealth lead, the one he loved and cared for. They were done. Like that.

Before he headed down the stairs, he looked over the edge. The water was close. He couldn't throw far, but he could throw far enough for something to land in the water. He grabbed a box out of pocket. It was small. It was labeled "DOT" and was black. It wasn't heavy, in fact, it was very light. He looked at it for a moment.

"What good is this…" he said closing his eyes. He ripped off the label and stared at it once more (opening his eyes, of course). He thought about how pathetic he was. Thirty seconds later, he did something he never thought he would do. He grasped the box tightly and threw it over the edge of the guard rail. He watched it fall and land in the water, right where he had wanted it to go. He shook his head as he headed down the stairs not caring. His heart had been broken. It was almost like Frost could see the future and wanted it to happen. He pretty much just won. He didn't want them to stay together. He wanted her to think she'd always be targeted. And she did. He did win. Rico had been friend-zoned…or in Rico's case…Frost-zoned.

_There's one more chapter left, penguins. It's not going to be a lengthy one; in fact, it is the epilogue that just concludes the story. You can, of course, expect it here tomorrow (Friday the 11__th__) and that'll be the end of the trilogy. _

_So, until tomorrow…waddle on…_

"_Waddle on…" was the worst way to end this chapter. I'm sorry, that's my stupidity at its best! :D_


	16. The Epilogue

Club Penguin: EPF: NOTIO: Part 3:

The End of the Killer:

Chapter 16:

_Well penguins, we've reached the end of the story…this is the final chapter. _

_In the previous chapter of the story, Rico was making an attempt to do something with Dot and they discussed 'stuff'. Rico was going to do something but she broke up with him because she didn't want to have either of them targeted for liking each other. Rico understood and left. _

The next few days on the island were full of gloom, sadness, despair and repair. The road was bumpy and long (don't take that the wrong way…) but they got over it.

Funerals were held for all of the ones who were lost in the sadness. Barista, Pizza Chef, and several others were all laid to rest in the igloo cemetery (what is up with all of these places in igloos?). Rico and his squad, formally dressed, attended each one of them even if they didn't know the penguin that was being laid to rest.

When Rookie's stupidity would come into play, Rico would have to shut him up because what he was saying was sort of rude ('Who is this that we're here for?' or 'Who's name?'). The funerals weren't all held in one day, however. They were held across several days and as I said before, the squad attended all of them.

When Barista and Pizza Chef were being laid to rest, Rico gave a eulogy and so did Jet Pack Guy. Rookie did as thanks to Barista for saving him from the flames and the collapse.

"Instead of saying goodbye," Rico had said to end his eulogy. "I'll just say 'see you soon'. If I were to say goodbye, well, that'd just tell you I'd never see you again. And saying that is well, it's just too hard."

After the funerals were held, Rico was commemorated by the Director for his outstanding work and doing what was known as 'the impossible'. He was awarded and was given _third _in line for Director (so when Aunt Arctic dies and the one after her dies, he will be the Director unless something happens to him), replacing the previous spot of another agent who had shown good work, but not as much as Rico.

The Command Room was rebuilt and finished a month later. Field-Ops were permanently taken off of the EPF. The one area that wasn't destroyed of the Command Room was the wall of honored agents. The wall wasn't for the toughest, roughest, outstanding agents. It was for the agents that passed in the line of duty. At the top was Gary. His picture, as well as many others, was still standing, perfectly. Added to that wall were Barista and Pizza Chef. They were placed under Gary's and agents that knew them left notes and words under their pictures.

Rico commemorated the doctors that brought him back. Dr. Fishgerald and his team were promoted to the igloo hospital's 'main doctors'.

Rico finally accepted the fact that Dot and he were no more. She talked to him still and he talked to her but it didn't feel the same. It felt like it did when they first met.

Rico also bought new furniture for his igloo. The EPF insurance covered it all. He bought all of the stuff that he previously had. It was a lot and it was all old stuff. His puffles were never found. They had run away to the wild and would not return. He thought about maybe installing stuff into them so they could be tracked, but that'd invade personal privacy.

The Mine's underground was still full of the gangsters and the drug-dealers. That wouldn't get better, but the EPF had a way to stop that…they had a plan. They had no idea if it would work, but Rico reminded them that anything is possible.

Which brings us to our next statement…Rico and the squad learned many things. Everything has a theme. They learned a lot. Rico learned he was unstoppable. They all learned many things like anything is possible, never under estimate the powers of one penguin, and probably the most important thing of all. The thing that changed their lives. Rico left the EPF thinking the island was better and the crime was gone. He returned because it didn't. The thing they learned here was in the title itself. The thing they learned was the most important thing of the story. They learned that whatever happens – it's not over 'til it's over.

_So that ends the trilogy. The end of the story. The end of what was my 'best story' yet. It set records for me. :D_

_I'd like to thank all of the readers that read this trilogy. I started back in September with part one. I stopped and brought it back and continued it with part two and three. I didn't expect this many readers. Again, thank you all for reading this trilogy. I'm not the best with thank-you's so it's short indeed. _

_What is next for me, you ask? Well, I'll have a new story ready Monday. I need the weekend to decide which of my ideas will be next and then I need to write it Sunday. So, thanks again and you'll see me next time. _


End file.
